Progress Report and a Thrift Store Save

I've been doing my best to make steady progress on my cross-stitch.  I'm actually feeling pretty good about where this is so far.  Those of you that stitch know that it can be slow going.

I've also managed to finish up knitting two dish cloths.  I think I will turn that yellow yarn into a nice big potholder...because who doesn't love a good potholder!

Since I don't have any other projects going on (ha!) I thought I would quickly fix up a thrift store find.  I picked this needlepoint up a little over a year ago.  I really had no idea where I would put it and my mom and sister both thought I was a little crazy for getting it, but it was only $3!  Also, I hated to leave it there because someone had obviously spent a lot of time and love on it and now it was sitting sad and lonely at the Salvation Army store.  Poor thing!  It needed someone to love it and give it a home.  

I decided that this would be the perfect piece for my daughter's nursery.  The frame was a not very attractive country blue and the mat was a little dirty looking.  After thinking about it for a little while, I came up with a plan.  

This fix-up was pretty simple.  I rummaged through my huge pile of scrapbook paper and found a color and pattern that I liked and cut it into strips to cover the mat.  Next, I used some white craft paint to paint over the frame.  I didn't remove the picture to do this since I was going to cover over the mat, it didn't matter if I slopped paint on it or not...plus I didn't know how to get the piece out of the frame.  Finally, I just used some double-stick tape to attach the scrapbook paper and Voila!

Now I have this super cute vintage artwork for the nursery that also looks nice and fresh.  I love it!