Beach inspired picture frame

Over the last couple years I've developed a sort of obsession with picture frames. I love to check out Tj maxx, home goods, and marshals for them. They are usually under $10 each and sometimes you can find them in the clearance isle for under $5. Last summer we went on vacation to Torch Lake and I scooped up tons of little tiny pebbles to make a craft with. And I found this plain wooden frame for $3.50 in the clearance isle that would work perfectly. Well. The pebbles are still sitting in the back of my jeep and the frame was collecting dust on a shelf. Life got busy and I got tired. 

Well this weekend we went to the dollar store and I picked up a package of popcicle sticks. I thought maybe I could do something cool with them and then I saw the frame! I knew just what I wanted to do. 

I gathered everything together and waited patiently for nap time. 

I laid half of the package out and just started painting a few each color. Just the one side. I didn't need them to be perfect. 

They dried pretty quick for me. 

I started trimming the sticks down so they were straight instead of rounded. This proved to be the melt difficult part. Our kitchen sheers sort of suck. And I couldn't find the wire cutters anywhere. 

I ended up having to get a screw driver to tighten them up every 5 or six sticks. That was fun. 

Trying to vary the colors and different lengths was fun! 

My brother suggested cutting the corners at 45 degrees. I liked this a lot more than having then straight across the whole way. But that's just a personal detail preference. You could go either way. 

I did one side at a time. 

I used a pencil to mark where I needed to cut. Especially towards the ends of the frame. This made sure the pieces fit perfectly. 

I used the brush to spread on the fast grab tacky glue. I probably could have used a hot glue gun, but I have no idea where it is. And the tacky glue worked really really well. 

Spreading the glue across the whole side worked much better than going piece by piece. 

Also pulling the pieces off and laying them in order so you know where they fit. 

When you get all the pieces on you can press and squeeze them together to make them align tight and straight. Just smoosh them together. 

With using half the package I still had a bunch left. And for the pieces that cracked or split I could have replaced them. But I love the way they look. Like worn out or something.