Tag: mat

Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts, Uncategorized

“Washi Tape” frame mat

Jessica Smith

So… I really don’t know what washi tape is but it is apparently a huge deal. Apparently. It’s just colorful tape, but I guess that’s cool.

Anyway, I was perusing the aisles of le Target last week and I stumbled upon a roll of Scotch tape that was mint colored and patterned! So, it’s not washi tape… but it’s some kind of tape! It was mint, so I needed it. I scooped it into my basket and went home.

It wasn’t until 1 a.m. that I knew what I wanted to do with my tape. I was staring at a our framed family tree, which has been missing something ever since I framed it. I got a document frame from Michaels and printed the family tree on our printer, but our printer couldn’t print full bleed (all the way to the edges) so there’s always been a white border around the image.

So I took the frame off the wall so I could make a faux mat out of my new roll of mint tape.

{A Smith of All Trades} Scotch Tape mint mat

Making this mat was really easy. I mean realllly easy.

Pop the image out of the frame and start adding the tape around the edges. I taped right onto the family tree and onto the white piece of paper that came with the frame.

{A Smith of All Trades} Scotch Tape mint mat

I did the top and bottom first, then taped along the vertical edges. That way the corners overlap in the same manner.

{A Smith of All Trades} Scotch Tape mint mat

I popped the newly “matted” piece of artwork back into the frame. Unfortunately, I taped it a little off center. Dang! I trimmed the edge of the white paper and popped it back in — done!

(A Smith of All Trades) Mint Mat

It pops out of the frame now and I love it even more!! It also looks lovely next to our new curtains.

(A Smith of All Trades) Mint Mat

So, next time you need one of your piece of art to pop, just add some funky tape… washi, Scotch… whatever!

Craft Projects, Paint, Quick and Easy Crafts

Painted Frame Mats

Jessica Smith

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

I have been trying for about a year now to accessorize our house with adorable and mushy pictures of us, cutesy pictures of our pup, and wonderful photos of our families. Last night, in between cleaning out a hall closet and playing with my pup, I attempted this feat again. I broke out my stash of picture frames and rearranged a few shelves in our living room. I set my sights on this trio of white frames — I love the white frame with the patterned, yellow mat that I bought from Target a bajillion years ago. The other two frames are just… meh. Boringggggg.

I picked them up from the thrift store last year and never did anything super exciting with them. Last night I changed that.

I pooped the mats out and dashed off to my craft room to unearth some paint!

One mat got a green polka dot treatment using the end of a pen.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

The other got a blue chevron stripe. I did both by hand and just eye-balled in. After all, the other side is free for painting if I screwed it up!

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

Once my mats were dry, I popped them back into the frames and set them on a shelf in our living room. Lord knows this won’t be their last home, but for now they are quite the colorful and cheery trio.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

Cute, huh? Now I need some purple and orange and I’ll have a whole rainbow of frames.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday

Salt Dough Ornaments

Jessica Smith

Our main craft from last weekend’s craft night was salt dough ornaments. Carrie, Amy and I followed an east recipe for the dough so we could make our own ornaments.

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All you need for the dough is 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of warm water. I mixed ours together in my KitchenAid using the dough hook attachment, which worked great. When the dough was a little too tacky to roll out, I added a pinch more flour.

Then we set up these awesome SilPat mats and began to roll our dough.

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When the dough was an even thickness, we stamped our shapes into it. Then, we removed the excess dough and put a hole in the top of each one before putting them into the oven.

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I started to bake the ornaments at 200 degrees, but after a while I bumped up the temperature to 250. That worked great and the ornaments hardened in about 2 hours.

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Once they cooled down, I hung them on our tree using silver and red string.

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Here’s one for Remmy!

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And a little tree for our big, fat tree.

I saved a few to paint, but I haven’t gotten around to adding color to any of them yet. I don’t think they need it either. They look very pretty on our tree just as they are.

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