When my little family visited the creek in Sulphur Springs  I sat and chatted with my sister while my nephews played in the cold water and Rob took lots and lots of photographs. As it turns out, this is one of my favorite days of all time and I'm so grateful to have a photograph to remember it by. Today I'm turning that image into something I will see every single day, making sure I never forget one detail.

If needed cut a piece of plywood (or wood shelving in my case) or have someone at a hardware store cut it for you for a nominal fee.

Trim the photo to fit within your plywood piece in an attractive way. You need an equal amount of wood showing all around the photograph for nice looking proportions. My edges are all about 3".

Piece the frame on top of your photo to ensure it fits well together.

*quick tip: Because cut wood sometimes turns into a frustrating puzzle, you can always mark the back of each piece with how it should go later on down the line.

ApplyAleene's Wood Fusion to the back of your paper and press your photo down. Take care to properly center your photograph. Any excess glue can make the photograph bubble and warp if on thin paper, so take care to very, very thinly spread the glue to the back. On photograph paper you'll  not have to worry quite so much about warping the image but a thin coat is still advisable.

*quick tip: Using Tacky Spray adhesive will be less likely to cause the paper to bubble but you'll have less wiggle room in case of a mistake when placing the photograph to the wood. Use whichever you prefer.

Once dry turn the frame over and add support to the frame by attaching the frame and back together with a 1" wood screw placed near the end of each individual frame piece. 

*quick tip: Pre-drill holes with a bit slightly smaller than your screw to lessen the chance of your wood splitting when screwed together.

To age your painted pieces first paint the wood with your under coat. This is the color that will peek through the top coat. I went with beige beneath and an aqua blue on top. Be sure to allow the under coat to fully dry before applying the top. Once the top is also fully dry use sandpaper to reveal the paint beneath for an aged look. 

*quick tip: I have begun using sand paper pads meant for handheld sanders that attach with a Velcro system for work like this. The backside features a soft, fuzzy fabric (for the Velcro to stick to) that helps to buffer the heat that occurs when hand sanding.

Next we're going to work with a hose clamp, but what is it? It's a device that is intended to hold a hose onto something else. A good example is the device that is used to attach that silver dryer duct (often used to make robot costumes :) to the vent in the wall behind your dryer.

These can be found in the plumbing section of hardware stores and I highly suggest you bring your plant's pot or vase in to get the proper size.

Now these hose clamps are made out of crazy metal. I, unfortnately, broke 3 bits and had 2 trips to the hardware store to get advice for what kind of bit that would work. In the end, none of them did. According to my dad when using a carbide bit, which would totally work, you cannot allow the bit to flex in the least. Once it does it breaks and I'm not steady enough to not snap 4 bits, apparently. Instead I used a mending plate to attach my hose clamp to the photograph.

Mending plates are found near the fence making materials at the hardware store and they come with screws to use with them. Pre-drill your holes into the wood where you want your pot or vase to go and attach the clamp using your mending plate.

Now isn't that lovely? As it turns out cats love to eat bamboo so this isn't exactly ideal placement for this household since I want the bamboo to live. But the good news is that even if it doesn't I can easily loosen the hose clamp and replace it!

In the end, I am very happy with the results! What do you think?