Thrifty Message Center Part 1 {pinspired}

Today I am working on another project for the silent auction fundraiser I am in charge of this October for the Osan AB Spouses’ Club. This one started off as 3 thrift store frames,

I realize there are 4 frames in this picture, the bottom one is for another project 🙂 I paid $5 at the base thrift store for the top 3 frames, and they all match each other. They were a little beaten up, but the wood was so nice and old looking, I loved them, so all I did with the frames was wipe a coat of stain over them, to fill all the scratches, and then put a coat of satin varnish over that. I am usually a big paint fan, but I know lovely vintage wood when I see it!

I decided to turn the 3 frames into a message center, and used the middle sized one for a clip frame, inspired by this pin on pinterest,

I began by taking the glass off, and then only using the back of the frame (which was nice and sturdy) I cut a piece of batting to the exact same size as the back, and a piece of drop cloth a couple of inches bigger.

(gratuitous shot of my pedicure and flip flop tan) I made sure the drop cloth was well ironed, before stretching and hot gluing it to the back, with the batting sandwiched in between.

As you can see from the back, it’s not overly pretty, but it is flat and tight.

Next I took some clothes pins that Isaac had (I have no idea why, he just bought a bag of clothes pins one day for “projects”) and I took the metal spring off them and stained them all a chestnut color.

After letting the stain dry, I mod podged paper with pretty pictures on them on to the ends of the wood, and let them dry. After they were dry, I used a nail file, to sand away the excess paper, and then I did a top coat of the mod podge over the clothes pin paper edges.

Finally I added some jute cord with hot glue, and then put the frame back together (and the clothes pins back together, which was a pain and took pliers and patience) The last step was to cover the whole back with paper, just so it looked finished and pretty, I don’t have a picture of that step yet, for now I only have a cell phone picture of the finished product, I will take better pictures when I have finished with the other 2 frames for the message center!