The post in which we display gratitude on the wall.

Just for the record, I know absolutely nothing about art. There was a brief time of insanity when I considered becoming an art teacher. But then someone pointed out that you actually have to make art, not just not crafts, in art class. So, out the window that idea went.
Therefore, for all I know, the print that I am about to reveal is some famous work that I should have gotten assessed at an Antiques Roadshow. But when I saw it in an enormous frame for only $1 at a yard sale, it was all I could do to look beyond the disturbing image and to the frame (which is not in the picture) that would, no doubt, come in handy some day.

I'm not entirely sure what this print is supposed to be depicting. And I really don't know why she is plugging her ears. If I were in her unfortunate position, I would be covering my eyes. Maybe that's why she has such a creepy look on her face?

Anyway, Rick has been surprising me by hanging this work in various places around our apartment (bathroom, bedroom wall, foyer, etc.) since we purchased it, and as much as I would have liked to carry on the tradition, I finally thought of a project for which I could use its frame. Which means that it was time to tearfully bid adieu to the naked cherubs trying to put a thorny rose down their woman friend's dress.

But the goodbye was not permanent, because I decided to use the cardboard back of the print as the mat for my new project:  a collage of gratitude.

Before I give detail the step-by-step of what we did, I should say that this whole project was weirdly inspired by that commercial for Sharpie pens where the guy is writing all of his memories with his girlfriend on individual sticky notes, then arranges each one on the wall to spell "Will you marry me?"

All together now: "Awwww...."

Here's our loose interpretation of that romantic lad's proposal.

*     *     *

1. Rick and I made individual lists of all of the things that we are thankful for. Then, we read them aloud to each other, which actually made them sound like trendy little free verse poems (a bonus for the English teacher inside this crafty girl). Rick was a little resistant at first, but one of the first things he wrote was "a wife who is creative enough to make me write about what I am grateful for." That night, he admitted that it actually was a good little exercise. On that note, I think this project would be awesome to do with kids, and have them make their own list. Unfortunately, we don't have kids, and the cats were being uncooperative. Would we really want to put "having a non-stinky litter box" on the wall, anyway?

2. I prepared the frame. I sanded some rough spots and then, since I was going to be painting the dark frame white, covered the frame with a coat of spray primer. While that was drying, I took a roller and some leftover white paint to the cardboard back of the scantily-clad cherubs and their victim.

 

Once the spray primer had dried (which didn't take long because it has been in the 90s here all week), I lightly sanded the rough spots again before applying two thin coats of flat white spray paint. Once that was dry, I decided to distress the frame to give it a slightly worn look. To do this, I gently sanded the edges and raised surfaces of the frame, sanding some areas more heavily than others so that the purposeful wear-and-tear looked natural.

3. I formatted and printed our"gratitude" lists. After typing the lists into a table in Microsoft Word, I changed the fonts so that each statement would look handwritten rather than digital. I wanted the handwritten look because

I then cut 12"x12" sheets of cardstock in half (I selected some with a nice texture so it wouldn't scream "craft store" when all put together) and was left with 6"x12" sheets. I ran these through our printer and then cut out all of the individual rectangles to end up with a pile that looked like this:

4. I inked the edges of each rectangle. As I just mentioned, I didn't want little rectangles that screamed "I grew up in Michael's," so I decided to take them one step further by inking the edges. This is something that I have seen done all the time in my Paper Crafts magazine, but I have never actually tried it myself. Now, I don't know why--it was incredibly easy. You simply press the edges of the paper firmly into the ink pad...

...and you end up with paper edges that look like this:

I'm a big fan of the subtle texture that the ink adds:  it makes the rectangles look like little bricks.

*Side note about the inking: I found it helpful to place the ink pad on a non-skid cabinet liner so that it wouldn't slip around when I was pressing the paper onto it.

5. I arranged and adhered the new little "bricks" on the cardboard backing that I had prepared earlier. I didn't want the overall look to be super symmetrical or contrived, so I made the shape of the brick formation look uneven and slightly rough, like it was actually removed from part of a brick wall. I used Scotch double-sided roller tape (clean, easy, won't soak through cardstock...gotta love it) to adhere each piece.

6. Finally, I used my Cricut to cut out a 12-inch "Gratitude" in black cardstock.

This was then nestled among the "bricks."

And now the fun part: we hung the framed collage using two old hinges because we didn't have any wall-mounting brackets....

...then stepped back, and were, once again, thankful for our new, non-blank wall.

Some of our gratitude statements are serious, like "in-laws who want to go on vacation together" (it's true: we all went to Disney World together last summer and had a wonderful time), some are sweet, ("waking up next to my soulmate") and others are just silly, but, nonetheless, things that we are genuinely grateful for, such as "free stuff on the curb." (Although sometimes Rick isn't as grateful for that as I am, especially if he has to go pick it up with me.)

So if ever we forget and start to take things for granted, all we have to do is catch sight of our new collage to be reminded that, indeed, we are so amazingly blessed.

What would you put in your gratitude collage? And do you have any creative ways to remind yourself of all of the things you are thankful for? Do share. :)

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

The post in which I glue mirrors to baskets.

As I mentioned in this post about our Leased Land of Beige, Plaster, and Poorly Painted Trim, I have been perpetually faced with the challenge of how to liven up the very blank and very off-white walls in our apartment. Painting is a no-no, so I have had to find other inexpensive ways to bring some life to our surroundings. Flipping through a free copy of an old Better Homes & Gardens magazine that I had picked up from the copy room at school, I noticed this:

It seemed like a project I could handle, so I picked up a shallow woven tray from Goodwill, a 4-pack of plate trays from the Christmas Tree Shops, and a can of satin yellow spray paint, knowing that I wanted to add my new creation to our slowly changing office. The next step was finding cool pictures like the ones displayed in the magazine picture, but that's where I hit the figurative brick wall. Other than black and white prints and pictures, I couldn't find anything colorful that would mesh with the rest of our office decor. And I didn't want to just do more of black and white, since we had plenty of that going on already.

I was wandering aimlessly through the aisles of Michael's, pondering my plight, when I came across their craft mirror selection--and bam! The figurative light bulb (are you getting my English teacher drift here?) went off! Why not glue mirrors to the insides of the baskets for a slightly different look? I hurried my 4 mirrors home and got to work spray painting the baskets.

Adhering the mirrors to the baskets was a bit of a trick: simply using hot glue was about as effective as using a toothpick to hold eight hamburgers together. I knew that there would have to be something absorbent in between the two non-porous pieces to really make them stick together. So, I cut apart some old scraps of corkboard and glued them first to the basket, and then the mirror to the cork pieces.

I was pleased with the result, and shook them vigorously to make sure the glue was strong (the last thing we need is our budget decor falling off of the wall and sending us to the hospital where our budget will likely be exceeded by countless dollars). However, I didn't like the way the plates nestled together when I arranged them. The whole thing looked too predictable and symmetrical, or like a lopsided mess. I decided that the arrangement needed some other sizes.

While wandering through Party City, looking for other shallow basket trays in different sizes, some sturdy cardboard cake trays (like the one to the right) caught me eye. The silver seemed to echo the mirrors on the baskets I had at home, and I knew that I could dress up the platters using my Cricut. I was especially drawn to the fact that they were circular but had scalloped edges, making a nice complement to the perfectly rounded edges of the baskets. Once home, I used my Cricut and yellow, white, and silver paper to create the designs I wanted on the cake trays and on the large basket.

I created my own hangers for my new decorations by adhering folded cardboard like this:

(If I had been thinking ahead, I could have saved some effort by simpling threading the ribbon through the basket prior to gluing on the mirror. Oh, well.)

Then, after a great deal of shuffling, I came up with a good arrangement for my new art. I didn't want the edges of the overall arrangement to be symmetrical or straight in any way, preferring the "I just threw this together" (yeah, right) collage look. And voila: here is my work, proudly hanging firmly on the wall above Rick's keyboard.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out, especially the fact that the whole thing only cost:

Baskets: $3
Cake trays: $2.50
Mirrors: $6.50
Paper: already owned
Spray paint: $3.50 (and can be used for other projects, too!)
Total: $15.50...for a wall that is no longer blank. AND--bonus--I had fun doing it.

I'd love to hear about ways that you've been inspired to decorate your blank walls with seemingly random objects, so feel free to share!