Nifty Thrifty

*I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, so I should start this post off by saying that I got this idea from another blogger...thanks to Katie over at  Bower Power!

Anyway, I spoke on a past blog post about Jeff and my date night in the garage.  We had a few of these nights where after Brody went to sleep we worked on some projects.  We called it "Arts and Crafts hour". Hahaha.  Anyway, here is one of the projects we completed.  I call it the Nifty Thrifty because it started out as a $3.38 thrift store purchase...

It was a gold 11 x 14" picture frame with a cardboard mat and a really ugly print of a little girl petting a lamb.  We named it "Mary had a little Lamb".  And I can't find my before shot, which irritates me, but trust me, this thing was a beauty (insert sarcasm here).  So, to freshen it up, I got some supplies (fabric, scissors, spray adhesive, and some white spray paint) and got to work.   

I took apart the frame...



Power tools + Red wine = Fun times!



Then cut some fabric to size (I used a grey suiting fabric on sale at a local fabric store for $3 a yard, score!), and wrapped it around the mat. 

Using spray adhesive and scissors, I got this...

While letting the adhesive dry, Jeff spray painted the frame with white spray paint.  Once those were done I just had to decide what I wanted to put in the frame.  Since the new theme in our bedroom is going to be about travelling, I decided to type up some of the places we have visited and sights we have seen.  I just used Word to create it and chose several different font types to make each place or sight stand out.  Then I took the print to Kinko's to have it sized to fit the mat.

Next we put everything together, and voila!

Looks much better than it started out as, and for only $3.38, I couldn't be happier!  It currently resides above our bed on our new shelves that Jeff built when he made the ones for Brody's room.  Here's a shot of it now, but just ignore the other pictures in the frames....those are just place holders for now.  :)

Note...ignore the yellowed lamp shade...it will be replaced soon!

Thoughts?  Anyone else have a neat thrift store purchase makeover they care to share?  I'm loving the idea of buying something used at a super cheapo price and making it look like new again!