25 Days of Christmas: Day 3--DIY Christmas Card Holder

I've been itching to make something cute and Christmasy that I could hang on the wall to display Christmas cards people send us this year. I saw some really neat ideas on Pinterest, but I never seemed to have the perfect materials on hand to recreate any of them.

Then, I saw an ugly gold picture frame propped up against my bedroom wall. I got this frame for free and had been saving it for some creative idea to come to my mind. Well it came! And turns out, it's kind of a conglomeration of some of the ideas from Pinterest that I like.

 First, that ugly gold had to go!

I had some tealish acrylic paint left over from this project, so I used it to paint the ugly gold frame.

Ahhhh! Much better!

I let the paint go on kind of streaky to give it a "distressed" look.

Since I like subway art, I chose this free Christmas printable  from Eighteen 25 to print and put in my frame.  I was pleased with how well it matched the frame as well!

Now I know you're thinking this looks great, but I said I was going to make a Christmas card holder...right? So here goes the next part.  Using the same color paint, I prettied up some regular old clothespins.

I then glued these around the edges of the frame as clips for my cards.  I love the finished product! Since I had all of the materials on hand, the entire project ended up being FREE. I think its interesting, and it provides some cheerful decor while being useful as well! I can't wait to get Christmas cards already!!

Have you been working on any Christmas crafts yourself recently? How do you display Christmas cards during the Holidays from friends and family? Link up or share your ideas in a comment below!

DIY Canvas Sign

 

I seriously love subway art signs.  I think they are so fun and cute! A few weeks back I was browsing around on Pinterest (of course!) and etsy, when I came across this sign which I LOVED!

View this item in the owner's etsy shop

The saying is so true, and I loved the combination of small/large/print/cursive letters.  I knew I had to find a way to do this myself!  I had recently acquired a used canvas that someone was getting rid of and had saved it for such a time as this.  I also remembered a technique called "glue art" that I had read about here.  The glue art was interesting because it left a raised, textured look on the canvas.

After deciding on what I wanted, I gathered my materials.  Here is what I used:

• Canvas
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Elmer's Glue or Glue Gun
• Acrylic Paint
• Sponge or Paint Brush

To begin with, I carefully penciled the words onto the canvas, drawing lines with my ruler to keep the text straight.

Next, I slowly traced over the letters with Elmer's glue.  The trick here was to squeeze out the glue slowly and consistently so the line wouldn't "break."

I then set the canvas aside to dry.  Unfortunately, the Elmer's glue had a tendency to spread a little when it dried.  I really wanted those letters to be raised, so I ended up going over them again with a glue gun instead.  This technique worked much better, so I would recommend using a glue gun to begin with.

Once the letters were dry and I was satisfied with their height and texture, I painted over the entire canvas with acrylic paint and one of those sponge brushes.  Because the canvas had been previously painted, it took me 3 or 4 coats to cover it well.  The glue from the glue gun covered pretty well, but showed through in some places. I decided I liked it because it gives it a little bit of contrast.

And that is all folks! The entire project cost me $1.00--the cost of the paint and brush.  I love this sign and currently have it sitting on the floor against a wall in my living room.

What projects have you worked on lately?