Off The List...

Even with an extensive to-do list to tackle for 2012, I got a little distracted this week by this...

Yup, an IKEA RIBBA frame. We picked it up in the As-Is section the other week when we went to get our BISSA shoe cabinets. At $4.90, I couldn't leave it behind, and I knew that I would be able to make use of it.


It sat on our fireplace mantel for a while, until the inspiration finally came to me. For ages I've been trying to come up with some way to use an old skeleton key that I'd picked up at the St. Lawrence Market a few years ago. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do just that, and to create something new for our front entrance, using things we already had at home (I'm on a roll, using stuff that is cluttering up my office).

What I Used:
1. Left over light-weight fabric from our stockings
2. The Skeleton Key
3. Scissors
4. Double Sided Hem Tape
5. Glue Gun


It was an incredibly easy project that I was able to whip together in a matter of minutes, while Halle played next to me in her excersaucer. Quick projects are my best friend these days. If it only takes me a few minutes, then it doesn't get cast aside and forgot about for days or weeks.


After taking apart the frame, I cut one layer of my lightweight fabric, slightly wider than the back of the frame. (Note: before I starting cutting, I made sure that the back of the frame would still fit in place once the fabric was secured to it. Nobody wants to start a project like this and then find out your new art won't fit back into the frame!)

Next, I cut my hem tape into strips the same width as the back of the frame. I adhered it to the frame and them pulling my fabric tight, pressed it onto the sticky edge of the tape to secure it in place. 

After doing the first side, I found the tape was much wider than it needed to be. So on the remaining sides. I cut the tape in half, and used thinner strips so that the tape wouldn't stick out past my fabric. I also had to use a few small dabs of hot glue in the corners where the fabric folded over itself. This helped to keep everything in place. Once all four sides were pulled tightly, and secured into place, the back of my frame looked like this...

Not the neatest thing ever... but it's the back, it won't be visible. So, I just flipped it over and began working on the important side of it.

I wasn't too sure if I wanted to keep the mat for this project. So, in order to make it easy to display it with or without the mat, I placed the mat on top to help me centre my key...

Next, a nice healthy squeeze of hot glue along the back of the key and I stuck it in place. I then let it dry flat on the table while Halle and I played...

Finally, I popped it back into the frame (with the mat for now), and into the front entrance it went.

At the moment, it resides on our console table, until I can decide where on the wall it will hang... and what to hang with it. It's better than I had hoped, and I am so happy that old key is finally on display and no longer hidden away among my "crafty pieces" in the basement.

Do you have any left alone projects you need to tackle? Or maybe you're like me and have finally had a chance to make use of some of the supplies you have laying around at home? Either way, I'd love to hear about some of your current crafty projects...