Welcome to the Jungle

Well, I didn't finish the projects that I had hoped to before jetting off to Seattle last week, but I did finish them up right when I got back! Lets take a look at the easier of the two projects for baby Ellie first, framing this old embroidery scene. Actually, even before I picked up a frame I gave it a bath. I'll spare you the pictues of dirty water, but I ended up cleaning it four times! It must have lived in a home with chain smokers because it was pretty gross. To clean it I removed the fabric from the board it was stretched onto, it was just held on with regular old scotch tape. Then since I was a little worried about how sturdy the stitches might be I filled up a bucket with hot water and some Woolite and just washed it by hand. After the third go of hand washing and still having water that was far from clear I decided to let it soak over night. The water still wasn't super clean, but it's going to be hanging on the wall, and I had decided enough was enough. After it dried I gave it a quick ironing and re-taped it onto a fresh new piece of cardboard stuff. I could finally put it in a frame!

 

The scene is roughly 18" x 24", so it needed a fairly large frame but not quite poster frame. I headed off to my favorite place for cheap but nice looking frames, IKEA! I picked up this RIBBA frame for $20. Once I had it home I laid the mat over the scene and didn't really like the size of the opening. It cut out some of the tree, the monkeys hand, and a fish or two. Even though the elephant was what sold me, someone had put some long hours into this scene and it all deserved to be seen.

 

 

Luckily, I have a mat cutting thingy. I decided to make the mat the same thickness all the way around instead of thicker on the sides like it was. Also, it was just easier than trying to measure how much bigger I would need the opening to be and keeping it centered.

 

 

Once I had my mat cut I taped the scene in place. Oh, and since this little embroidery scene had some 3-D elements to it I didn't want to smoosh it behind the glass that came with the frame, so I just put the glass behind everything. That way if Sarah ever wants to put something else in this frame the glass right where it needs to be.

 

Umm, and here is a quick PSA regarding the glass in picture frames. It is sharp. I know that you've probably heard it a million times (I have!) but look at what happened to my sad little thumb! I barely knocked it on the edge of the glass but I guess that's all it takes, so frame pictures at your own risk!

 

 

Ok! Duh dunt duh dunnnn! So much better! The monkey had two hands, that lonely fish now has some friends, and that jaguar is eyeballing a tastey little bird snack. Everyone is happy.

 

 

Especially this purple elephant! She prefers flowers that smell like Woolite over ashtray any day of the week.

 

And Mr. Lion enjoys the extra bounce and pep in his mane.

 

Well since this post has turned out to be a little long than expected I'll wait another day or two to show you the topper I finished for the desk. It turned out pretty nicely, I think once its got a changing pad in it and diaper stuff it will look more intentional and less like a giant wood box on a desk, but whateves.

 

Nikki Kelly