Frame It! Chalkboards, Burlap, and Vintage Numbers

I have a small handful of FRAMED projects to share!

The first two are following some big home decor trends! When I was a teenager I completely avoided peer pressure and doing the "cool" things. Silently, I thought it was silly. I would much rather be at home reading a book than playing in our small town doing cool stuff. I actually secretly thrived a bit by be different and causing the "shock factor" in people's expressions.

You don't have tv?!
You've never drank alcohol?!
You are home schooled?
You've never been to a school dance or a party?!

No, no, no, and no.
Oh, so much delight I had in answering those questions!

BUT here I am 27 years old finally caving to peer pressure.
I have the fun desire to join in (this once) and decorate my home sweet home with some super hot trends:

CHALKBOARDS
BURLAP
and
VINTAGE NUMBERS

This whiteboard has been in our home sweet home for a very long time and I use it constantly. See this post HERE to read about our family's celebration boards. But, needing to stay updated, I transformed it into a chalkboard using the now famous chalkboard paint.

I use chalk ink now instead of dry erase markers. If you haven't heard of chalk ink, click HERE for a post I did on it awhile ago.

I bought some chalkboard paint...
Sanded the whiteboard down a bit...
Taped it off...
and transformed it!

This next one is a burlap photo board! This also incorporates the fun trend of vintage letters and numbers!

The frame is covered in mixed old typewriter style numbers and letters. I took the glass out of the frame and lined the back cardboard area of the frame with a couple layers of burlap. This works for a bulletin board and tacks can easily stick in as you see here:

I cut extra squares of burlap to embellish it with some fun numbers. The numbers I chose are my boys' current ages: 5, 7, and 9. I made my own stencils using parchment paper, drawing the numbers, and cutting them out.

I painted the numbers black. To finish the squares off I pulled some burlap strands straight through the edges to fray the edges.

Once these dried, I was able to pin up their age squares along with the corresponding child's photo! (I need to print some current photos! These are older pictures, but still terribly adorable!)

I am in love with this project because it combined vintage numbers with burlap WHILE using a personal touch with their ages! I also like that I can easily switch numbers and photos when I need to.

And that's the burlap photo board!

Dakotah, our 7 year old, was so intrigued with the photo board I made that he surprised Chris and me by creating his own using cardboard and a black Sharpie! He even picked which photos to use out of the shoebox.

Kids do add much delight to life. :)

The last framed project was a simple one that I put together when I was decorating our new photo ledge.
I've mentioned that I enjoy combining personal and sentimental things in with our decor.

I like our home to demonstrate who we are,
not just be an empty shell with meaningless objects scattered around.

Chris and I love to travel (and love to dream of travel destinations together!) Some of our happiest and most exciting times in marriage have been on traveling adventures! So, I bought a scrapbook paper sheet of a map print of Europe and used it as a matte for a framed photo of the two of us.

This is also a super gift idea. You can choose any theme from the HUGE variety of scrapbook paper out there to personalize a gift!


I finished it off by putting a collection of currency from different countries we've been to in a little basket.

These were such little, simple {30 minutes or less} projects that made a pleasant difference!


What little details have you changed or added to your home to stay UPDATED recently?
I want to hear!

This post is linked to:
JAG "I can Make That"
Metamorphosis Monday
DIY Day ~A Soft Place to Land
Works for Me Wednesday
Today's Creative Blog