Framed Fabric Art (or is it?!?!)

They say that necessity is the mother of invention- I tend to disagree. I'm of the camp that believes it is laziness that is the true mother of invention. Case in point: I have this swath of wall behind my front door- just a random piece of wall that doesn't really have a purpose, isn't all that great to look at, and doesn't do much good for anybody other than holding up the roof. (On second thought, I guess that is kind of important, huh?)

The infamous "random swath"

When we first moved in, I originally put up these weekly write-n-wipe foam core boards from Staples where I could keep up with the family's activities, thinking 'Oh yeah, right by the front door- I'll use these ALL the time!' WRONG! wrongwrongwrongwrongWRONGwrongwrong! Couldn't have been more WRONG! I used them for about a week, and then the information I wrote on them stayed up for the next two years- literally! (Apparently, my husband had a birthday every Thursday for two years straight- whoohoo!! Can you imagine the presents?!?)

Damage caused from removal

Anyway, I left those puppies up and they would probably still be up today if I hadn't decided to repaint. (More on that in a different post, but suffice it to say I picked an original color that was just too dark and after two years of living in a cave I needed some light, man!) So, when it came time to do the foyer, I did what any self-respecting wife and home remodeler would do- I ripped 'em off the wall without any concern for how it might damage the drywall. (yeah... not the smartest move I've ever made) Needless to say, I caused a bit of damage. {I know my mom is totally rolling her eyes right now}

Now for those of you who know me, and those of you who took the time to read my 'about me', you'll know that I love starting projects (but rarely relish finishing them). I'm an 85% girl (get it 85% done and it's good enough for me!) That 85% mentality totally kicked in right there. My mom or husband, surveying the damage, would have immediately gone and gotten the spackle and patched the damage (as would most of you dear readers). Me? Nah! Just paint over those puppies! Nobody's gonna see that- it's behind the door!! Only... once it was painted- you could totally see it. So for the first time in...well, forever... I had to admit that I was wrong.

Logic at this point would dictate- 'go get the freakin' spackle!' But again- why would I do anything logical? {Have your eyes rolled out of your head yet, ma?} I started trying to figure out how to cover up the damage without having to pull out spackle because I just hate spackle. (And the drying. and the waiting. and the sanding. you get the picture) I also knew that I needed some kind of bulletin board near the front door because we were moving our calender (which housed our small bulletin board) and we would no longer have a place for notes, mementos, etc.

It was at this point my Muse decided to show up and I thought 'Wouldn't it be cool if... I could make some kind of really awesome bulletin board- cut to size- to fit in this space? That would be so neat'! The swath of wall is really narrow so I knew nothing store bought would work plus we recently got new couches and I wanted to tie that fabric in, so whatever it was... I was gonna have to make. It was time to get my craft on!

I stopped in at my local Michael's and bought one of those long panoramic poster frames (with a 40% off coupon I spent a lot LESS which saved me MORE money!)  I promptly brought it home and applied several coats of black spray paint (I used all different sheens- whatever was on hand- because only the top coat really mattered to me) and then finished it off with an oil rubbed bronze (but it's really black) Satin spray-paint from Krylon. GORGEOUS!

Next, I popped over to JoAnn's Fabrics and was lucky enough to find an awesome fabric with 'my colors' (which was clearanced out- again, LESS money spent = MORE money in my pocket- so yay!). I also bought myself a roll of fairly thick cork. Once that was done, it was just a matter of putting the whole thing together.

Cork- glued to frame backing

I removed the glass and gave it to the hubs (maybe he could use it for something?). Used the backing from the frame to trace a template onto the cork- cut the cork- and then glued it on with super glue (holding it down with heavy cookbooks til it dried!) I used super glue because I wanted something that would work fast- I'm not known for my patience.

Don't you love the cute orange cube thumbtacks!

After the cork was done, I took the fabric and cut out the piece I would need. I used craft glue for this one (re-employed my cookbooks) and borrowed my sons' help stretching the fabric so it would be nice and taut. Once it was good and dry, I fit all the pieces back into the frame. At that point, I ran into a problem because the cork and fabric together were thicker than the original glass, so the hooks wouldn't hold the back in. No worries! I grabbed my trusty construction stapler and went to town! 20 or so 1/4" staples in strategic spots around the perimeter and that thing isn't going anywhere!

The Finished Product!

Lastly, I had the hubby hang it for me (because measuring and leveling aren't my strong suits) and.... voila! A convenient and useful bulletin board masquerading as a gorgeous piece of framed fabric art. So simple, so cheap (!), and covers ugly walls beautifully!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. It's been a loooong time since I've done anything crafty and my skills were rather rusty, so I'm glad it turned out so well. Now my appetite has been whetted to do so many other craft projects around the house- be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those posts soon! Tell me dear readers, what crafty thing have you done lately?

Linking up with these great parties:

• Between Naps on the Porch (Metamorphosis Monday) 

Go check out these blogs. Do it now. Do it!