Monthly Archives: June 2015

Clothesline Photo Gallery

 

Clothesline Photo Gallery
Clothesline Photo Gallery

Create a photo gallery that can be hung anywhere!

My daughter received one of these as a gift when she graduated from high school and she used it in her dorm and every apartment since for displaying photos.

The great thing about this photo gallery, besides being adorable, is that it is wonderful for anyone with limited space for framed photos!   College students, apartment dwellers, and our dearest teenagers will love this clothesline gallery for hanging their favorite photos of their friends, pets and family, especially those special photos of mom!

Make a Photo Clothesline!
Make your own Photo Clothesline!

In this post, I demonstrate two ways to make the photo clothesline gallery. One uses mini-clothespins and the other uses decorative brads and magnets!

What do you need?
Picture Wire
D-ring Frame Hangers
Glow Stick Connectors
Mini-Clothespins
or
Decorative Brads and Mini-magnets

Clothesline Photo Gallery
Clothesline Photo Gallery

First things first – you need a good quality picture wire.  This is a 30 pound coated wire.  No – you will not have 30 pounds of pictures, but the wire is a nice thickness for hanging pictures on and it is very easy to bend and twist.  We consulted with a professional picture framer on this one and she was right, it works perfectly!

The wire came in a 9 foot length, which was longer than we wanted so we used half of it!

Wire for the Clothesline Photo Gallery
Wire for the Clothesline Photo Gallery

Creating the hooks at the ends for hanging the clothesline, was very simple.

To one end of the wire, slide on a glow-stick connector.  It’s the small plastic tube you see in the picture that would normally be used to connect two glow-sticks together. The connectors work perfectly for covering the twisted wire and finishing off the looped ends.

Bend the wire 1.5″ from it’s end and slide the hole of a D-ring frame hanger into the bend in the wire.  Wrap the short end of the wire around to keep the D-ring in place.  Slide the glow-stick connector over the twisted wire and that’s it!  Do the same thing to the other side so you can hang the wire like a clothesline!

Attach D-ring Frame Hangers
Attach D-ring Frame Hangers

When gifting a Clothesline Photo Gallery, I always include a package of command hooks so  the gift can be hung immediately!

Command Hooks for the Clothesline Photo Gallery
Command Hooks for the Clothesline Photo Gallery

If you choose to hang your photos with clothespins, it is easy to find them. At Michael’s we found them in all colors and designs.  We selected the small white clothespins in order to personalize them!

White Clothespins for Photo Gallery
White Clothespins for Photo Gallery

Here are the clothespins my son decorated for a friend of his!  The Sharpie worked fabulously for this project.  It is easy to use and permanent!

Photo Gallery Clothespins
Photo Gallery Clothespins

If you decide you want your photo clothesline to have magnetic clasps to hang the pictures, find decorative brads.  Again at Michael’s or any craft store you will find tons of brads to choose from.  I selected my favorite from the larger brads since the brad needs to be substantial enough for a magnet to stick to and to hold a picture!

Attaching the Brads to the Photo Clothesline
Attaching the Brads to the Photo Clothesline

Open up the prongs of the brad and with a needle nose pliers, twist the ends around the wire.  The prongs are easy to bend and the pliers allows you to pull the prongs tightly around the wire so the brad will stay in place.

Attaching Brads to the Photo Clothesline!
Attaching Brads to the Photo Clothesline!

Attach as many brads as you like.  Not all of them need to have magnets attached to them. Attaching additional brads allows a few more options for hanging pictures!

After you have finished attaching the brads, you will need to make your magnetic clasp.

I purchased Neodymium Magnets at Michael’s again!  The magnets are very strong and 0.25″ in diameter! They were perfect for this project!

Attaching Magnets to Decorative Brads
Attaching Magnets to Decorative Brads

Open up the prongs on the back of a brad, align the magnet in the center back and wrap the prongs around the magnet!

The magnetic clasp created is strong enough to hold photos between it’s self and the brads you have attached to your wire!

Magnet Clasp for Clothesline Photo Gallery
Magnet Clasp for Clothesline Photo Gallery

You are now ready to hang your photos!

Clothesline Photo Gallery
Clothesline Photo Gallery

This is a great gift to make for high school graduates heading off to college this fall!

Magnetic Photo Gallery
Magnetic Photo Gallery
I linked up to iheartnaptime!
I linked up to iheartnaptime!

Chalkboard Photo Display for Graduation Parties!

Chalkboard Photo Frames
Chalkboard Photo Frames

Before my son’s graduation party, my daughter and I were sitting in our kitchen brainstorming ideas for displaying photos for his celebration.  Since most parties tend to have the same types of displays, we wanted to do something unique!  This is what we came up with!

The chalkboard photo frames were made using black paper. The paper was  a heavy weight, duo-finish, 4 feet by 200 feet roll from Pacon Corporation in Appleton, Wisconsin. Using the rough side of the paper, I was able to easily write with a piece of chalk and erase using a microfiber towel.  For the times that I really screwed up, I was able to lightly wet the towel to help remove all the chalk! Once the paper dried, I was ready to try again!

Chalkboard Photo Frame
Chalkboard Photo Frame

After measuring the pantry cupboards, my daughter cut strips of black paper to fit in the inner door panel.  For the rest of the photos, we cut out various “frames”! The frames were very simple to make.  We simply laid the picture on the paper, outlined the photo in chalk and with the help of a ruler and some creativity, we made some frames!

Chalkboard Photo Frame
Chalkboard Photo Frame
Chalkboard Photo Frames
Chalkboard Photo Frames

As you can see in the pictures, the chalk smudges exactly like it would on a real chalkboard!

I like that realistic look!

Chalkboard Photo Frame
Chalkboard Photo Frame

Using full sheets of paper, I made a sheet of “Family” photos and another one of “Good Friends”.  I thinks it’s fun for your guests to see pictures of themselves with the graduate so I provided them with lots of pictures!

These full sheets of photos were also great for covering the junky side of the garage!!

Paper Chalkboards
Paper Chalkboards Make Great Party Signs!

I found the easiest way to attach the photos was to use painter’s tape. The tape will not harm your cabinets and is easily removed from your photos!

This is a fun and easy way to display photos for any get-together!

Spicy Chicken Dip Recipe

This Chicken Dip Recipe is made spicy by adding jalapeños and it is wonderful. My favorite way to eat the dip is on crostini, but it also makes a great sandwich spread.

So many options –  dip at a party, sandwich spread for your family or something you whip up at the last minute to impress your friends!

If you want to turn down the temperature, this recipe can be prepared with the wonderful flavor of mild green chilis instead of the jalapeños!

Spicy Chicken Spread Recipe
Spicy Chicken Dip on Crostini!

The original recipe came from a friend of mine and it contained a lot more cream cheese than chicken so I changed it so it’s more about spicy chicken made creamy with less cream cheese!

Spicy Chicken Spread
1 lb of cooked chicken –  shredded
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup chicken broth
1 – 4 oz can mild green chili’s – drained
1 – 4 oz can diced jalapenos – drained (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Spicy Chicken Spread Recipe
Spicy Chicken Dip Recipe

I always use the entire can of green chilis and only a tablespoon or two of the jalapeños. The jalapenos have a wonderful flavor that I love, but adding the entire can makes it too spicy for me!  For those in my family that can’t seem to get enough spice, I keep the left over diced jalapeños as a condiment!

Combine all the ingredients together, stir well and heat in a covered  crock pot for at least an hour.  Stir occasionally while cooking.

 

Spicy Chicken Spread Recipe
Spicy Chicken Dip Ingredients

The result is a creamy delicious chicken spread that everyone will love!

Spicy Chicken Spread Recipe
Spicy Chicken Dip

When I am in a hurry, I microwave all the ingredients for a few minutes in a bowl  and then pour them into the crock pot. This speeds things up, but don’t skip the crock pot all together. Allowing the chicken mixture to simmer in the crock pot adds something special to the recipe!

 

Spicy Chicken Spread Recipe
Spicy Chicken Dip with Jalapeños!

The truly brave can top the chicken dip with fresh jalapeños!

Enjoy!

I linked up to iheartnaptime!
I linked up to iheartnaptime!