Coffee Viewing

The following idear did not come entirely from my own noggin'. In fact, it was stolen from another red, curly-headed gal named Emily.

I saw an old window frame in her room that she had used to frame some pretty fabric. I thought, "By golly, I should do that!"

I love using old windows as paint palettes because they are large, easy to clean, and super CHEAP! Believe it or not, an old window can be found for just 1 or 2 bucks at the Austin Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Art supply stores charge over 20 bucks for a small sheet of plexi-glass crrrap to paint on. Do yourself a favor, use a window. :)

After visiting Emily's abode, I was thrilled to discover this new use for the cute lil' old windows.

A couple days before this I had bought Randy two burlap coffee bean bags from the Texas Coffee Traders. I figured the boy loves coffee, and the boy loves things from other countries to show his students and hang in his classroom. Win-Win.

Now I could combine the burlap sack + window and have a truly unique wall-hanging!

But I'm not all good and generous. I had to make myself something cute first. :) So I practiced on a print that was hanging in my bathroom featuring one stunning fish riding a bicycle.

I cleaned the window pane really carefully and used a metal glass scraper to remove some old paint drops.

Then I used spray adhesive to mount the poster to the glass window from the back. The adhesive goes on clear and seems to be holding really well (not sure how it'll look in a decade).

Finally, I took half of a coffee bag that I wasn't using for the Randy, and I used a staple gun to mount it behind the fish poster. I did not stick the bag to the window because I wanted there to be a small gap between the poster and the burlap, adding more dimension and making it a little more interesting to look at.

Then I fashioned a hanger with wire on the back and decided to hang it in my bedroom where it fits with my current decor. I think it turned out quite well. I even did some additional scraping to the window to uncover some of the older layers of paint. Mmmmmm, character!

On to Randy's, which involved less steps than mine did.

For his, I simply cut out the coffee bag to fit the window. I then sprayed the adhesive both on the window and the front of the bag.

I carefully smoothed the bag on to the window and finished it by stapling the edges to the window frame.

I put some wire to hang it up and that bad boy was done!

His is hanging in his kitchen and it looks really great. I honestly think every local coffee shop should do this... Or buy one from me. :) They look really nice and provide an artistic use for these furry little coffee bags.