My guest room walls have been bare for a couple of years. I’ve had good intentions of finding just the right pieces that speak to me, blah, blah, blah… but somehow, my walls are still bare. I decided to take matters into my own hands this past weekend. I started with a black, wooden frame that I brought home from CHA a couple of years ago and some of the Decopatch decoupage papers Chica gave me. The colors in the paper perfectly matched my guest room.

First, I measured the width of my frame and cut my paper into strips that wide. I wanted to make sure and line up the paper along the inside of my frame so that I would have a nice, clean edge there. I didn’t worry if it hung off the outside, because I would fix that later. I took out my bottle of Mod Podge

I decided to miter my corners when I got to them. I didn’t cut the paper; I just folded it under and Podged it down. I Podged my paper all the way around and thought I was finished.

Hmmm… I wasn’t. When the first coat of Podge dried, I realized the black color of the frame was showing through too much, and I was losing the bright colors of the paper. It looked good on the corners, where I had folded it over, but not on the rest. No problem — I just added another layer of Decopatch paper on top of the first. Problem solved!

While the Mod Podge was drying, I hunted for something to put into the frame. I went into my craft stash and found some antique keys that I had picked up at the craft store a while back. I thought these would be perfect and simple for my rather busy frame. To adhere the keys, I used some Terrifically Tacky Tape to make sure that the heavy, metal keys didn’t fall off the paper once I hung them on the wall. A quick tip for you: When cutting this uber-sticky tape, use a pair of Westcott non-stick scissors. I’ve used these a lot and they really don’t ever get sticky!

I really liked how the frame turned out. I am so excited to have something on the walls in that room! I might even get around to adding something to the other neglected walls.