I have an uncle who really enjoys finding fun, meaningful things to frame and give as gifts.  He even cuts his own mats, and ends up with a great piece of custom art.  When Ryder was born, he gave us a small frame with a picture of Batman and a little inscription that read “B is for Barr, B is for Batman, Be Strong and Courageous (Joshua 1:9)”.  It’s still displayed in the boys’ room today!

The following Christmas, he gave me this:

This photo and caption were featured in a 1946 Mademoiselle Magazine, and the beautiful woman playing the piano is my Grandma Mac.  I love the frame, and really love that delicious vintage-y pale teal color on the mat.  But in my very bright turquoise sewing room, it clashed like crazy.  I intended to take it somewhere and see if I could find a mat in a different color, and then I stumbled upon this tutorial (thanks again, Pinterest!).

In true “me” fashion, I didn’t measure, didn’t cut straight lines, and took some lazy shortcuts <blush>.  It’s a little wonky in some places, but  as my husband would say “it’s good enough for government work”… and it was FREE since the fabric came from my stash.  I know, right?!

Now my grandma will hang proudly among my (still-in-the-works) wall collage.