Art Display Frames

We are in the process of moving Big Girl into her own room. Her and Little Brother have been sharing and she's been asking for her own space - somewhere to play, go, look at books - without having to leave the door open for him. So we're transitioning a few rooms in our house to make one available for her.
As cute as all the princess stuff out there is, I really wanted to decorate a room she will love now and grow into for a few years. I didn't want to redo/buy new stuff in two years because it was too babyish, dated, etc. After showing her lots of paint chips and thinking about our options, we chose a beautiful light blue (think robins egg blue) for the walls. I painted an old dresser light pink and the rest of her furniture is white. I'm so excited for all this to come together!

Did I mention she wanted to help?! She gave a few brushstrokes to the side of her 'new' dresser before I finished it.

My daughter is a crafter. She loves to draw, cut, create, color. When we were grocery shopping the other day, she stopped in the middle of the aisle and declared, "Mama, I have a great idea. I can make a paper copy of our van. I can draw windows and doors, it'll be so cool." When we were watching "How To Train Your Dragon", she said, "I want to draw a picture of that, with Astrid riding Toothless and the sunset in the back. That would be beautiful." And she pulled out the paper, markers, and scissors and started crafting.
Needless to say we have artwork all over the house. She makes something for me probably five times a day, things to give to friends, mail to grandparents. I really wanted to put something in her room where she could display her favorite artwork but it needed to be a system she could easily change projects out of. I didn't want a bulletin board with pins in her room and I didn't like the look of something magnetic.
After a brief (ha!) search of Pinterest I found what I was looking for. When my mom was visiting she helped me out so we got this project done fast! We modified it but here's where I got the idea:

http://www.thecaterpillaryears.com/

And here's the process in five steps...:

1. Buy old frames from thrift stores or new ones from the Dollar Store (that's what I did). Take out the backing and the glass. Make sure the material of the frame will hold spray paint. The ones we got are plastic so it took a lot of spraying and they aren't perfect but I say imperfections make things unique. :) To paint, my mom hung the frames from a broom handle which was suspended by resting the ends of the broom on two lawn chairs (covered with garage bags). Wish I remembered to take a picture! It was a great way to paint and see all the sides of the frame at once. Let the frames dry.

2. Choose fabric that co-ordinates with the room. I wanted something a little shabby chic-ish in pink. Since the walls are blue, I wanted a nice contrast without being too loud.

3. Lay the fabric down and trace the backing (with the stand/picture hanger) on the fabric. Cut out. I used Modge Podge to glue the fabric to the frame back. It was easy to spread on and I could move the fabric a little to press out the creases and bumps. It worked a lot better than hot glue would. You could probably use Elmer's or fabric glue.

4. While those dried, I used some Gorilla Glue Gel to glue these clips onto the frames. We found the clips at Hobby Lobby and they worked very well. I fit them into the groove of the frame and pressed hard then let them sit. You could probably use hot glue or super glue but remember, this is how pictures are going to be hung/removed so you want something that's going to keep the clip on there through multiple uses.

5. When the glue on the fabric has dried, put the back on the frame. I took the stands off because I knew these would be on the wall. It's up to you. Make sure the clip is at the top of the frame with the loop on the backing at the top to hang it. :)

Already showing off her first craft from homeschool co-op!

That's it! Ready to hang on the wall with some artwork. We got half a yard of the fabric (a little more of the floral one) and I still have plenty left over for more frames (if needed) or other projects to tie her room together. We bought four 8x10 frames. Once I get them on the wall, I'll decide if I want more, what size, etc. All in all, it took my mom about an hour to spray paint them/let them dry. Then it took me about an hour to do the rest!! Not bad. The total cost was under $15 for all four.