Julie Finn
All of the artwork in my house is framed in thrifted frames that I’ve refinished in one way or another. I have a LOT of methods that I like to use to make my frames look different, but I’m always looking for one more.
That’s why when I saw a tutorial for fabric-covered picture frames in the copy of Girls’ Night In that my tween was flipping through, I snatched it out of her hands (don’t worry–she’s used it it!) and took it as my immediate excuse to stop cleaning the house and refinish a picture frame right that second.
To be fair, I’ve had this whale print since July, and it’s actually been sitting on the table in my study on top of a junky, thrifted frame for over a month, waiting for me to figure out how I wanted to refinish the frame. I’d thought that I was waiting for a good time to go to the hardware store and pick out some paint, but it turns out that I was waiting for this book!
Although Girls’ Night In is technically a book of slumber party themes, which explains why my ten-year-old was avidly poring over it, you of course have to have stuff to do at your slumber party, so the book also has a variety of craft projects and recipes. If you have some overripe avocados and bananas, you can make face and hair masks. You can make cootie catchers, smoothies, and friendship bracelets. And if you’ve got some old frames and some fabric, you can do this project!
For my frame, I upcycled the pants leg of a pair of grey pants that I’d turned into shorts over the summer. It was a bottom-weight fabric, not a quilting cotton as the tutorial recommends, so I did have some trouble snugging the mat board back into the frame, especially as I’d covered the mat board with more of the same grey fabric (here’s how to do that!):
It’s just the color that I wanted, though (y’all know how I love my slate grey paint, and many home projects have been put on hold since I ran out), and although Syd has yet to have the themed slumber party of her dreams–so many themes to choose from!–I am super stoked to have my newly-matted and framed print up on my bathroom wall with my sailor’s valentine and my mosaic mirror.
I received Girls’ Night In free from a publicist, because I can’t write about a book unless I’ve snatched it out of my kid’s hands and taken it for myself. I should actually go give it back now…
