Pinspiration Monday: Polaroid clothesline

Remember a couple of months ago when I spouted off about my most recent electronic purchase, a new Fuji Film Instax 210? If not, let’s just say that my excitement overshadowed my actual talent with the camera…Not so good. It took me a couple of wasted polaroid shots to realize that Mr. Instax is not a fan of close-ups. But I think I’ve FINALLY gotten the hang of it and have since captured these four decent new photos:

  1. John’s dad’s vintage Porsche parked at a GORGEOUS overlook on the parkway
  2. A farmhouse at the apple orchard our families have (separately and unknowingly) gone to since we were kids
  3. The riverside view from a bridge up in the mountains
  4. John and I with “Harvey the hay worm” – A hay sculpture of, guess what, a worm! (oh, and my dad’s head can be seen peering over the back center of Harvey’s back)
I have had MUCH better success with the distant landscape polaroids then I did with the indoor close-ups. Now that I am finally starting to feel confident with the film, I decided it was time to construct a way to show it off – Enter stage left this Pinterest inspiration image:

Source: Shelterness

It seemed simple enough – Hang your polaroids inside of an old frame as though it’s a clothesline, using twine and clips. Only problem was where to put it…We are quickly running out of wall space, what with our gallery wall in the foyer, the new staircase gallery, the art in the upstairs hall, the plate wall in the kitchen, etc. etc. But there was still one space that hadn’t been filled – That is, in our main floor powder room. We have one set of artwork from Target, but the adjacent wall was blankedy-blank-blank.

With a hanging spot now in mind, I got to work on the frame. I recently acquired this one when I helped my mom clean out some closets in their house (they are getting new carpet this week and jumped on the excuse to make me get rid of all the stuff I had taking up room in their closets – I don’t blame them). Luckily I was able to snatch up this empty frame (from a college art show way back when), knowing in the back of my mind that it was destined for this project.

The only problem was the color/finish…A little traditional for our tastes. So a couple of quick coats of bright yellow spray paint later and we were headed in the right direction. You can still see the crackle detail in the finish, but it’s not so aged looking. More in the modern century now.

The only other things I needed were twine and push pins. It was very simple – Just tie a knot in the twine, push the pin through it and then hammer it into the back of the wooden frame. Then pull the string taught and straight across the frame and hammer in another pin. I had a few mishaps with bent and damaged pins, but John’s best friend, Luke, helped me out with his steady hand and gung-ho spirit.

Here’s Luke lending a helping hand – He told me not to post his picture, but he shoulda known better… 🙂

All done! Time to add the photos…

I used clothespins like in the inspiration image, but for a more industrial look you could go with mini silver binder clips. John and Luke actually went out in search of those clips for me, but after VERY kindly checking three or four different places, they came back empty handed…The clothespins are perfectly fine though, and I have a new respect for the two special men in my life 🙂

Here’s the framed photos on the wall in the bathroom – I love how the yellow pops off of the gray wall. The great thing about this is that the photos can be changed out with absolutely no trouble at all! I am definitely looking forward to adding and changing around the photos as I get more shots with my new Instax.

You might be able to spy my dad in this close up a bit easier than the first picture – Too funny…

Here’s the “Before” one more time of the sad, empty wall:

And now the “After!”

What were you guys up to this weekend? Speaking of photos, John and I had our engagement photo shoot with Katie Stoops (our wedding photographer) and it was AMAZING!!! She was so easy to get along with and I think we got some pretty amazing pictures. We are itching to get the film back to put up all over our house, I’m sure…And then I got to switch and be BEHIND the camera for a little maternity photo shoot for my friend Bonnie! Perhaps she’ll let me share some of that with you guys a little later 🙂

Have a great Monday!

A forest for baby “Bubba”

As some of you may have seen via my personal Facebook or Twitter, I was anxiously awaited the moment when I could unveil this morning’s post…One of my closest friends, Bonnie, is having her first baby this December (or possibly earlier, depending on how patient the baby is) – I mentioned last week that her baby shower was this past Saturday, and it was so much fun to celebrate with her family and friends. All of us ladies got to do the requisite “ooing” and “ahing” (and “awwwwing”) over her baby’s gifts and we snacked on delicious cake and snacks. It was “cute as a button” (as was the theme).

This week, Bonnie and I were supposed to meet up for coffee, but when she suggested a project instead I was ALL for it! Especially because it involved something for baby Bubba (this is her baby’s nickname until she and her husband, Todd, unveil the chosen name after the birth).

Here was the plan – Bonnie decided she wanted to paint a special mural on the wall of the nursery for her son – Something to go with the rustic theme she has chosen for the space. I think initially she had looked into a wall decal, but after finding out how expensive they were, she decided to DIY it. So she borrowed a projector from her work and picked out an image of birch trees. Then, projecting it on the wall she began to draw the image with a pencil, planning on painting in the lines to finish it up!

When I got to her house Tuesday evening, this is what she had already managed to accomplish (she had the projector light turned on so that we could see the pencil lines):

And here it is with the trees shining through the projector:

As we chatted about our days, I climbed the step ladder and did a little sketching. Here I am finishing up some of the higher lines:

She had pretty much finished the bulk of the stenciling by the time I knocked on the door, but the plan was to make it come down to the top rail of the crib. The crib was pushed over to the other side of the room to allow for access to the wall, but Todd kindly measured it for us and marked where the trees should stop to meet the edge of the crib (44 inches from the floor, in case you’re curious).

Unfortunately, the image of the trees Bonnie was using didn’t make it that low…So she flipped it upside down (the trees were thinner at the top then at the bottom and wouldn’t have matched up well if we had just lowered the image as is) and then flipped it horizontally to match the right trees up with each other. Then she and I both got to drawing, half eye-balling it where the image didn’t EXACTLY match up with the lit image.

We really used the projected image as more of a guide for where to put the birch notches then a tracing tool, but it worked like a charm in the end. After that, we just grabbed some leftover ceiling paint that Bonnie and Todd had on hand and got to work painting in the lines. It was a little slow going, but I didn’t even notice because the time was flying as she and I chatted about life, babies, marriage, engagements, nesting – We could’ve gone on and on 🙂

I did take a little break to photograph our progress and managed to get several sweet photos of mama working on the mural – I just had to share them…

Isn’t that just too cute…? As we were working on the mural, she told me how nice it’s going to be when she can settle into her rocking chair in the corner with her baby in her arms and look at the painting knowing that it was handmade with love. I feel SO blessed that I was able to be involved in this project with her…

We weren’t able to finish it that night, but I know she and Todd are anxious to finish the mural soon if they haven’t already. I hope she will share the end product with us!!! Until then, here are a few photos of what we were able to accomplish that evening:

At first, we were thinking we’d need to do another coat of the white, but the brush strokes turned out looking REALLY neat and added a lot of texture to the painting.

Ultimately, this project came in at $0 since she already had the paint and the pencil and borrowed the projector. While wall decals of trees are BEAUTIFUL, they aren’t cheap. So if you have the patience, and maybe a friend or two to help, this is a great project and something that will be really special in your baby’s nursery. And you could really do it in ANY room of your house! Just have fun with it 🙂

Can’t wait to meet you, Bubba!

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