Did Hell Freeze Over???

Because I'm actually posting on here again after almost 3 months - oops. AND I finished a project (finally!).
























 I don't have any before pictures. Well, I used to until our hard drive crashed. >: /
It was just a normal shadow box (without the front frame) with a medium stained wood on the sides and had a glass front and a black background. One day my then 3-year-old put her weight on the glass and shattered it. Instead of chucking it I set it aside and within months saw a shadow box "frame" at a store and immediately knew that's what I wanted to do.
So, I went to Michael's and picked out some decorative molding that I thought would look the most like a frame and had my Dad cut it and attatch it to the front. It sounds simple, but he had to deal with my cheapness and had barely enought materials to get the job done without any room for mistake - so thanks Dad!!! :) And he put a shelf in there while he was at it.
Then it sat in my office for months and months and months. I got Rustoleum dented copper spray paint and used almost the entire can. Then it sat again for a bit :)
Then I took black acryllic paint and painted it on and wiped it off with a washcloth and proceeded to freak out more than a little inside! It was NOT what I was going for. The black wasn't coming off ver well, so there I sat outside, spitting on it and then wiping it off in an attempt to get more off :)
Then I took the little that was left in the can and put it super close and VERY lightly and quickly sprayed random patterns and drops onto the frame. Then I mixed the black acryllic paint with LOTS of water, dipped my fingers into it and rubbed it on in small sections and then took a dry washcloth and in circular motions with varying pressure, rubbed it off some. Voila! The last thing I did was cover it in varnish to give it a little more shine (and protect the finish!)
Here's a close up.














 







For the background, I just took some leftover green canvas (ironed it, of course), then stapled it onto the original back. I could only do it on the corners, because as you can probably see in the above pic, my staples are slightly too big and stick through. But, again, cheapskate! I wasn't about to buy a whole new package of staples just for this.
Then I printed off a graphic from The Graphics Fairy  (www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com). If I had projector paper, I could have just printed onto that. But, cheapskate :) I don't. So, I put the paper in a plastic sleeve and traced it onto that, cut it so it was only one layer, then put it on a projector and traced it onto the canvas.

Put it back together and what've you got? A great new place for knickknacks once I get the hubby to hang it above the dining room table :)





















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