New Year, New Day, New Frame

What I learned from this project:

• Hot glue burns...but not that bad, unless you actually touch the metal part of the gun.
• I need practice taking better pictures...I used the iPhone for these, and they came out a little grainy.  Plus, the lighting in our living room sucks!

I made this with things most people have lying around the house.  The only thing that I bought for this project was the paint ($2.47 at Wal-Mart).  We've had this picture frame for years, but it was always a little...blah.  I was tired of looking at a blah picture frame, so this is what I did with it...

You will need:

• An old picture frame - if you don't have one, go to the dollar store or better yet, garage sales or goodwill.  You can find a ton for fewer than $2.
• An old t-shirt - I used a red one and a black one (men's large).  Scraps will work if they are long enough.
• Paint - I used black acrylic.
• Beads, pearls, gems, etc. - I didn't have any of these, so I took one of my many "pearl" bracelets and used the beads from it.
• Some hot glue

Paint your frame, and start on your rosettes while it's drying.

Cut the hem off of your t-shirt.  (You will not need it for this project, but don't throw away your scraps!  I have tons of projects you can use them for!).  Then, cut a strip off of your t-shirt about an inch wide.  Take the loop of fabric you just cut and cut it, making a long strip.  The wider the shirt, the longer the strip will be.  The longer the strip, the bigger your rosette, but you can always trim it when you feel you have a good size rosette.

Pinch the end of the strip and start twisting it.

Once you've twisted a couple of inches of fabric, begin wrapping it around itself.  As you go, add hot glue to the back to hold it in place.  Keep going until you've reached the end of the strip or until you are happy with the size of the rosette.

Mine came out a little sloppy.  (Resolution #14:  If something doesn't work the way you plan, just go with it.  Sometimes it's for the best.)  Pick off all the strings of hot glue, and if you need to hide the hot glue on the back, take another piece of fabric from your t-shirt and hot glue it to the back of your rosette.

If you'd like, add a little hot glue to the center of the rosette and add your beads.  Once everything is dry, hot glue your rosettes to your frame.

You can frame a picture, but I took a piece of paper, tore the edges and wrote "I love you because..."  You can write on the frame with a dry-erase marker.  (The "mat" behind the paper is another piece of t-shirt!)

Super easy and looks so good in our bedroom!