The Message in the Mess
Before and After

March Before and After: Dollar Store Picture Frame Dry Erase Boards

Hey y’all. I am sorry for the lack of posting, but I have been asleep for most of the weekend. I guess I’m coming down with something, or caught whatever The Hubs had last week. It certainly Knocked. Me. Out. I had so many crafty projects I wanted to get to this weekend but my body had other plans. Go figure.

Anyway, I did manage to get one project done that I’m excited to share with you. Recently in blogland I’ve seen so many DIY chalkboards and dry erase boards. I thought they were cute, and felt inspired to make one so I ran out to one of my favorite stores, Dollar Tree to pick up some of their $1.00 (of course!) document/picture frames. I had recently used these to make Christmas gifts and decided to try them out with this project. Here’s what I made for Christmas:

I thought it turned out so cute! I knew I could make something else nice with them.

The Christmas project required that I sand and paint the raw wooden frames, but this time when I went they had a nice stained version that looked kind of rustic so I stuck with that.

I made sure I cleaned the glass really well with a Windex wipe (normally I would find these things wasteful, but I got them for FREE from Right at Home and they work great in a pinch when I don’t want a lot of overspray).

Then I dug through my thousands (I kid you not…) of pieces of scrapbook paper and found some that would go well with our wine theme in the kitchen. I didn’t want anything too matchy, matchy; just some subtle designs that would allow me to see what I wrote and look good next to each other.

Once I cut the 12×12 down to 8.5×11, I inserted them into the frames and got out my Chalk Ink Pens.

(Sorry for the dark pictures, I finally got a burst of energy after the sun set and I wanted to capitalize on it.)

 If you don’t have Chalk Ink Pens, I highly recommend them. I first saw them over at Thrifty Decor Chick’s blog and decided to try them out on our (less than thrifty) Smith and Hawken storage baskets similar to the ones you see in that link. It worked beautifully. I’ve bought them twice now and while they tend to be pricey ($12 or so? at Michaels) I’ve used a coupon and gotten them for less than $9. Not a bad deal.

I used the Chalk Ink Pens to add titles to each frame and do a little freehand drawing. This is what they look like now:

I used my favorite Command Hook Picture Strips to hang them. While I’m sure the weight would’ve been fine with just two, I added a third on the bottom for extra support when sticking them to the fridge. I do not relish the thought of shards of glass all over my kitchen floor.

Here’s what they look like completed and hung on our refrigerator door. What do you think?



I’ve already written on them! They work great. 🙂 

What are you up to this week?

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17 Comments

  1. Ally Reply

    Super duper cute! So inexpensive and simple for a big impact in the kitchen. Nicely done! (Also – having a freezer inventory is a brilliant idea! I’m always digging around in the freezer trying to remember what’s in there.)

  11. Jennifer Reply

    Great idea! I always see those frames at the dollar tree and wonder what I can do with them! Found your post through Somewhat Simple.
    jen

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