Frames: From New to Old in an Hour!

I usually like to rescue furniture that is covered in dust and bugs, that seems to have no chance of life in this world unless I bring it home with me. It gives me that feel good vibe. However, every now and then, when I'm on an obligatory trip to Walmart, I pass through the clearance rack and find something that I can save. I have to assume that most things dislike the Walmart Clearance rack just as much as they would dislike being covered in spider eggs. 

Frames are one of those things I always have my eye out for. I love buying new frames because they are always in good shape and I don't have to put a lot of extra work into actually framing my pieces. The drawback, of course, is that new frames are boring, and sometimes ugly. I found these three frames at Walmart, on clearance for $10.00 a piece. They came with glass, backing and a matte cut to 8x10. In the frame world, that's a steal. 

I've been dying to try the Annie Sloan crackle method. The story goes that you can use any Annie Sloan paint, use a hair dryer right after applying the paint and it will naturally crackle. I was intrigued and thought these frames, being small, would be the perfect thing to try this technique on.  

 By the third frame I got the technique down and actually was able to get the entire frame to crackle lightly. I can't say enough how easy this paint is to distress and how fast it dries. I completed this entire project and had the freshly painted frames hanging on the wall within an hour. That's the sort of turn around time I need more of in my life! 

I think these frames turned out really cool and I'm excited to frame some of my photographs of the prairie in them.