A little sewing, a little embroidery, and a bit of other crafty stuff.......

“The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”― John Wooden

I have been in one of my "instant gratification" modes......wanting to make things but wanting to make 'em fast!.....so since I also had some items that I needed to finish soon so that I could deliver them in person.......I decided to whip out some stuff quickly..........

Several years ago my Dad gave me a couple of religious pictures that used to belong to his mother.  I framed one of them and had it on my wall for awhile and the other I stored away......The picture I framed was a canvas reproduction of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and also the patron saint of the little church my Grandmother attended.  After awhile I borrowed the frame for another project and stored that picture with the other.........well, anyway.......a couple of weeks ago my Mom and I visited one of my favorite cousins...Ralph and his wife Lindy.  Ralph built a little chapel on their ranch for Lindy's birthday.......after 35 years of marriage this is the first thing she ever asked for........and he delivered!  This little chapel sits on the other side of their property several yards away from the house.....(that is my sweet Mama in front).....

and, of course, every chapel should have a chapel bell right?? Here is my cousin Ralph ringing the bell.......

here is a photo of the inside.........it has 6 pews inside and a beautiful view from these two windows.....

  So anyway.........I realized I had just found the perfect home for Grandma's pictures!  Ralph and I are "double first cousins".....his Mom and my Dad were brother and sister and his Dad and my Mom were brother and sister....so these pictures belonged to his grandma too!  ....I told Lindy that I had some pictures for her chapel that I would mail to her.............. I knew I wanted to frame them first so here is what I did............
I sewed the Virgin Mary canvas print over some old lace and added a machine embroidery label to the bottom before framing it:

  the other picture was one of the Holy family.......has anyone seen an old print which has been glued to newsprint and then glued again to fabric?  That is what this one is.........it makes it look very much like an old canvas...........It is about 12x14 inches.....I'm sure it is at least 50 years old..........

the picture is cracked, and as you can see....it has some stains and missing areas......of course, for me this just added to its charm........initially I was going to mount it to a board, burn the edges and decoupage it.  I bought the board and then dropped by Hobby Lobby and  found a beautiful frame with a mirror in it marked 90% off!  Well I'm a sucker for a bargain so I bought it....broke out the mirror and then antiqued and stressed it to try to make it look older........ I glued the print onto a piece of art board and then stuffed it into where the mirror had been...........

 Voila!.........I was rather pleased with myself......I used some crackle paint on the frame which doesn't show up in this photo......and took off the three pegs on the bottom ....will probably fill the holes with some old brass tacks or something..........they could even put candles on the shelf if they want to........

What do you think?? Are you as pleased as I am??? haha...