Summer and All Her Glory

I love summer so much!

And so do my children.....

Lovely Summer

I love summer!  The warm air, the sunshine, the chance to decorate outside.....

Just joking but not about loving summer.

Just a few patio pics for your viewing pleasure.

See you soon.

Photo (Hall)ery

We have a looonnng hallway in our home.  

I wanted to do something that would make it nice and less looonnng, so I decided to turn it into a hallery, umm I mean a gallery.  

I wanted all black and white photos, some are old and some are new, but they are all of my family.  I also wanted to use old fancy looking frames.

The frames I used were all found at thrift stores and were gold.  I painted them all white, leaving a little color showing through so they still looked old.

So here is how I used old frames and cheap mattes to do it.

1. Most old frames come with nails that was used to hold the backing on, I pull all of these out.
2. If they have glass still in them, yeah!  But most have long since been broken. I replace the glass in different ways depending on the size of the frame. *I have new glass cut from a glass store. *If it is a traditional size, 11x14, 8x10 etc. then I buy ugly frames at the thrift store and use the glass from them. *Or I buy bigger ugly frames from the thrift store and cut the glass down.  Uhh got that?  Make sure how ever you do it that you leave about 1/16th inch for uneven frames.
3. I vacuum the glass and the frame to get any little particles off.
4. I clean the glass with glass cleaner to make sure there are no spots.

Ok, here is were it gets a little complicated, just stay with me.

This old frame was an odd size and I didn't want to have a matte custom made. So I double matted it with cheap dollar store mattes and some I found at the thrift store, making sure they were all white.

1. I started with a 16x20 matte with an 11x14 opening and an 11x14 matte with a 5x7 opening.  I cut down the 16x20 matte to fit the frame.
2. I used Elmer's glue to glue the 2 mattes together.
3. Make sure you line the mattes up so that they are even.  Use a ruler or eyeball it.
4. Put a bead of glue on the larger matte.  Spread it out with your finger.
5. I had clothes pins I used as clamps until the glue dried.
6. I put little pieces of paper under the pins on the front so that I would not mar the matte.
7. This is what the back of my mattes looked like.  Sometimes I will put masking tape on the seam, but I didn't have any today.
8. I print out my picture, is this case a 5x7 of my grandma and grandpa when they were young.
9. Tape the photo to the matte using scotch tape.

1. You need some kind of hardware to keep the glass and matte in the frame. I use mirror clips.
2. They are perfect for frames because of the off set of the glass and mattes.
3. I pre-drill a hole on each side and top and bottom, put the matte on the glass.
4. Screw in each clip tight but not too tight, you do not want to break the glass.
5. Choose a ribbon you want to "hang" the frame with.  It is really hung by wire and will only look as though it is hung by ribbon.
6. I use a thumb tack on the back of the frame to hold the ribbon, right above where the wire connects to the frame.
7. the ribbon will be under the wire on the back.
8. Here is the back finished.
9. Here is the front.  Looks great!

1. My hall is painted 2 colors with a picture rail between them.
2. I found some hooks at the salvage store that were perfectly rusty. heehee my favorite and attached them to the molding.
3. Take your frame and hang it on the hooks by the wire.
4. Pull the ribbon over the hook and wire.
5. Make sure that the ribbon is in front of the wire so that it does not show.
6. This is what it looks like from the side, the wire is behind the ribbon.
7. Tie a bow, knot or whatever.
8. Finish the ends of the ribbon.  I use a diagonal cut. 
9. Or a V so that it does not unravel.

Finished and looking great!!!

Thanks for reading this looonnng post to match my hall. lol