I fell over this sweet little box frame in a Charity shop the other week for just £1.99.
All the seeds and dried flower bits and pieces in it were a bit faded and a little bit "80's" for my taste but I thought it might have potential so it came home with me. It's not very big, 5" x 6.5" with little 1.25"(ish) square spaces.
Once I took the back off you can see the original, much brighter colours.
I've not played with the saturation levels on these photos at all, it's amazing how the sun takes the colour out of things over time.
I threw away all the faded seeds and dried bits and then gave the frame, glass and divider a good wash.
Our kitchen has red accessories so I searched my patterned papers and other craft stash for tiny red stuff.
I know the scrabble letters are not red but once I knew I could fit "TEA" in that was decision made! Of course I could have put "EAT" instead...
I've lots of scrabble tiles in a box, I buy scrabble whenever I see it in charity shops as they are so much fun to make things with, in the past I've made a few things with them which you can find here.
I cut out a piece of thick card the same size as the frame back and laid the divider on top, marking the spaces with a pencil.
I cut pieces of the patterned papers to fit and stuck them on. They overlap slightly, I made sure the joins would be covered by the wooden divider.
I painted the frame and divider white and then popped it all back together with a few of the little red bits and pieces glued into the spaces with my hot glue gun.
The strawberry was from an old kids charm bracelet, the "keep calm and carry on" badge had lost it's pin back. The Budwiser bottle top was rescued from the bin at Christmas!
The other bits and pieces are just things I found in my "can't throw anything away" craft stash. I used a page from an old dictionary too, the page with "cook" on it. The same old dictionary I used to make these fun greeting cards:
I'm really pleased with the transformation, another thing to add to our kitchen gallery wall.
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I love that kind of frugal crafting. I have two little wooden boxes I have saved of late and wondered what I was going to do with them. Jo x
ReplyDeleteIt was fun looking through all my stash and actually finding a use for those things I've kept!
DeleteHow adorable! This is such a cute idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cara, it certainly looks different, that's for sure!
DeleteAwesome 3D artwork. Love it! But mostly I love that you grab the scrabble, it means that donating boxes of games with parts missing is actually a good idea!
ReplyDeleteExactly, I have a big ol' box of scrabble pieces now. I'm not sure all the charity shops realise that we don't all buy the games to play them though, but then I'm also not sure they count the pieces to check either!
DeleteI'm trying to get the word out there - If we start adding little sticky notes when we donate - suitable for upcycle projects as some pieces may be missing it might help. I loved this so much I've included it in my Earth Day round up. http://www.purfylle.com/2016/04/36-earth-day-ideas.html
DeleteThanks Purfylle, you have some great projects in your round up so I feel honoured to be among them.
DeleteThe sticky note idea is a really good one, I certainly don't mind if a game or puzzle is missing bits if I'm using it for crafting. A note system would mean people wanting the game wouldn't be disappointed but the charity & thrift shops could offer incomplete stuff for sale rather than throwing them away.
Very inspirational, I will be keeping an eye out for something similar, I love it.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with this sort of project, you have to just keep your eye's open in charity and thrift shops and garage sales, waiting for "just the thing" to appear.
DeleteIt looks so pretty! I wish I had time for projects like this. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ramona, my problem is I do things like this instead of all the other things I should be doing!
DeleteLove what you did with the box frame, it looks brighter now. I wondered how you adde the small papers and then saw the picture tracing the shape, brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI would love to invite you to share this with us at our new Sweet Inspiration Party which is live every Friday, http://sweethings.net/sweet-inspiration-link-party1/
Have a wonderful week!
In love it, so much better than the seeds etc and fun to brighten kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carolee, the seeds were very 80's, I do remember that kind of thing being really fashionable - showing my age!
DeleteFabulous upcycle! I have similar little boxes but in the shape of houses. I might give this a go!
ReplyDeleteThey sound cute, it was really easy if you do fancy having a go, and it's fun to go through and find little cute things that will fit.
DeleteWhoo I love this Julia, I would love to make something like this for my kitchen :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing at Creative Mondays
Thanks Claire, just keep your eye's peeling at all your local charity shops!
DeleteIt's brilliant
ReplyDeleteI love it! I like the way the colored "tea" tiles set the red off. Great way to brighten your kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa, I like using scrabble tiles but of course they are always the same colour.
DeleteWhat a lovely makeover. But the scrabble pieces worry me. What if someone is desperate for a T E or A?
ReplyDeleteHa ha! They are spares so it's ok! I buy scrabble sets whenever I see them in charity shops so I have a box full.
DeleteI have visions of a particularly competitive game now when someone runs to the kitchen and rips the pieces out of the frame in desperation!
Great reuse and repurposing of a found item! Very inspirational and so pretty, too. Thank you for sharing it on the #HomeMattersParty
ReplyDeleteThank you Jeanne, it's nice to breathe new life into something old and discarded sometimes.
DeleteWhat an awesome transformation! I love the different buttons and such that you used. Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dee, I found loads of bits and pieces then had to narrow it down to things that would actually fit in the little boxes. It was nice to actually use up some little things from my stash.
DeleteThis is wonderful. It would make a lovely gift too. #MakingHome
ReplyDelete