My Photos - Finished.

Those Pictures....UGH Remember? ( Part 1 ) Well I made a Placemat... YAY!!!

Here's what I did...

Take One Empty cereal Box. Cut away the upper and lower flaps. Cut up one side to open up box. At this point you trim to even out and cut off the extra flap on the side where they glued the box together ( Its that lil 1/2 inch strip If yours has one ) You can cut the box down to any size but for a placemat I used it as large as possible.

I took my sorted and cut pictures, ( I cut people out of the pictures so they looked like they stood alone) I used different deckle cutting scissors and even my pinking shears.

Place the pictures wherever you like, overlapping as you go. You might want to try placement b4 gluing the pics down to be sure you like where you are putting it.

Next I took a piece of copy paper and printed up some words like Love, nostalgia, friends, good times. All the things i thought of when i looked at the collage. I realized the paper was stark white against the old B&W photos so I tried tea staining with my coffee...OOPS Better to stain before printing since the ink from the words just ran.....LOL I dabbed a paper towel dipped in coffee on a clean sheet of paper and let it dry over night.

Then it happened...An accidental surprise.....My cat slept on it. When I got it it was crinkled. ......Hey Wait.... I like this...So I crinkled it up more then put it in the printer and print out the words again.


Now it has a nice aged look. I cut out some words and glued a few down.
One thing I learned was to put down some paper on the box first before doing this. because there will always be gaps between some pictures and you can see the box underneath. I put the word in on some of the gaps.



Next.... The back. I had some printed cardstock and covered the back so people don't know I eat Natures path Flax and granola..LOL...and it gave it a more finished look.

Then i covered it with clear contact paper.

VIOLA!



One down....Hmmmm I think my family will be getting placemats for Christmas.
They make a nice keepsake if you can identify some of the people. I may print up name tags to put over the photos next time, especially if I use it as a gift. I recognize some people and can deduce from some of the writing on the back of the pics who the others are.

Checking in

I haven't checked in in about a month. I am still here... trying different things. Still taking pics, and upcycling my stuff, although some days it seems I am inundated with clutter and it is getting to me. I started cutting my fabric remnants into strips for crocheting. I have purchased more cuttlebug dies and am working on using them with my cans and also plastic water gallons ( I buy water for my coffee machine..( Yes I know how unfrugal is that) but my water is sooo hard and full of limestone that it eats thru appliances quickly).
I cut up the plastic and run it thru the dies and embellish them with decoupage and ultra fine glitter and now have Christmas tree ornaments..


I was working on musical instruments ( morracas) with the soda can tops and bottoms, but that turned into a nightmare. I found myself using the craft glue and other things that i thought "if the kids put these in their mouths that aint good"....trashed the ones I made and am starting over. Something more kid friendly......