make it monday: painted wooden frame

today's make it monday is a "how-to" on painting a plain wooden frame to dress it up!

step one:

start with your blank frame.

i got this frame for only $1 at michaels! :)

step two:

select your paint.

these bottles of paint are only about $1 as well, so this is not an expensive project :)
you can get them at any craft store or walmart.

using a foam brush, i painted the entire front of my frame, as well as the sides.

let it dry before moving on to the next step.

step three:

using the end of the foam brush, i chose a lighter blue color to make polka dots on my frame.

randomly space them however you think looks nice until the front is covered the way you like! :)

tip: if your polka dots aren't all the way filled in from the end of the brush, you can take a small paint brush and go back over any areas to touch them up.

step four:

this step is completely optional, but to add even a bit more spunk to my frame, i decided to add some glitter to my polka dots (if you know me very well, you know i love all things glitter) :)

i got this awesome set of martha stewart glitter gels for christmas last year, so i picked a blue color from that set,

and (once the polka dots were dry) using a small paint brush, i filled in each circle with a bit of glittery goodness :)

i glittered all my polka dots, and it looked like this:

step five:

this is also completely optional! but i decided to add one more thing to my frame. this is going to be a baby present for a friend of mine, so i cut out the letters "baby" from my cricut and attached them to the front. i used white contact paper for the letters.

another idea you can do is to spell out a phrase, or someone's name. here's one i did for a friends nursery and spelled out her little girls name:

you could also leave it with just the polka dots if you wanted, as it is still cute that way too :)
and if you don't have a cutting machine, you could also stamp letters on! there are lots of options :)

step six:

once you have the top of your frame looking the way you want, seal it with a layer of mod podge.

i like to use a foam brush to paint a thin layer over the entire top.

tip: once i've covered the entire piece with mod podge, i like to go back over and make smooth even strokes in one direction so that it dries evenly.

once your mod podge has dried, your frame is ready to put a cute picture in! :)

this is a cheap and easy way to make a personalized frame for yourself or someone you know!
happy crafting! :)