Upcycled/Updated Project of my Week

I have a new addition to my wall.

I started with an oak frame that I haven't used for a while.

Look at my adorable little girls. My sweet little three year old Zoe with my chubby little pre-one year old Audrey :) Did I forget to comb her hair??? No, her hair always looked like that. Oh, how I wish I would have put a headband with a big bow on her head. (like little Ella)

And then got a 24 x 24 inch board from Menard's. It cost me under $3.00 (that's all I spent on this project, I had everything else)

Since opening a Pinterest account, I can no longer just hang a picture frame on the wall. It just doesn't seem right. There are so many great ideas, that I decided to try one out. Since we are renting and I can't paint my walls, I might as well paint my frames : )

So I got out my paints.

And I went into my house painting bin to look for blue tape, but I found something so much better.

A drywall tape. Created a fun texture. I white washed the board first.

Then, I used brown to create depth, texture and tonal differences to the board.

Then I did the same thing, only using colors.

Then came the fun part. And yes, the girls looked at me like I was crazy. It was fun . . . "tilt your head more, nice smile please, I see only ears, keep your eyes open, look sweet, sweeter please, heads together". It was a fun little photo shoot.

I wanted to recreate the old photo . . . the girls are getting SO big, so fast.

This one is probably the closest recreation. Cheesy, closed mouth smile. But Audrey couldn't seem to open her eyes and close her mouth at the same time . . . it was pretty funny. She teased that she should put tight socks on her feet for a while so she would have the ankle marks, LOL.

They both are looking so big! Where did my baby girls go?

I love how they are gazing off into space. In the original photo, I know that's exactly where I was standing, trying to get them to smile for the photographer.

And I didn't take a picture of my spray paint experiment, but I "made my own spray paint", again, Pinterest inspired. It worked. 2 parts water to 1 part paint in a spray bottle and shake. It took longer to dry, and I don't think it would be very durable, but worked for this project.

That's how I turned the oak frame blue.

With a couple of tweaks to the photo, enlarged and turned into a sepia. I'm pretty happy with my final result. I don't really like the texture framing of the photo, so I might reprint it without.

So this was my recycled project, that also became my painting project for the week : )

Now I'm going to have to make a few more!!!

(Please ignore the sponge-painted walls, it wasn't me and I haven't gotten permission to change them yet. Maybe a nice taupe, brown or even a creamy off white . . . imagine a different background.)