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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Artful Gallery Wall Using Your Kids' Creations







In January I made a few home goals for the year. One of my goals involved art. I longed to make more art, encourage my kids' art, and live with more art in our home. 

I haven't made as much of my own art but the year isn't finished yet. But I have been writing and living, thinking and resting. I've come to believe that when we live in ways that are intentional and authentic to who we are, we're living artfully. 

But I do long to create a bit more visual art. We'll see how that works out. In the meantime, my kids are always making stuff at school and at home and oh, how I love me some kid art. 

Months ago I pinned these inspiration photos from Pinterest.




And here's what ended up on the wall in our front entry.



Here's how it all came together:

  • Gathered thrift store frames and hoarded them in our garage
  • Painted over their oak and turquoise and fakey gold gilded finishes
  • Attached soda flip-top thingy to the back of the two unframed canvases with hot glue

  • Stapled cork to the backs of some of the frames. It helps to add some thick cardboard or mat board behind the cork for added thickness. You can buy rolls of cork at home improvement stores.


  • Arranged the frames and nailed them to the wall.
  • Added the art with upholstery tacks and voila! My foyer is an art museum.



It's still in process but that's the story of my life. The cool thing about this gallery is its flexibility. As my kids bring home new stuff, we can change it around or display some of their seasonal art. {Handprint turkeys anyone?}

And putting all of their art together in one spot makes it feel like a real collection. 

I'm sort of in love with it. 


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5 comments:

  1. What a marvelous way to affirm your kids creativity and individuality! Looks fantastic!

    So wonderful to get to spend yesterday together!

    LYF,
    MOM

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  2. Thank you for the idea! We have wire hung up with beautiful bird clothespins over our fireplace in the kitchen and between two windows but I really, really wanted some funky frames to showcase artwork. I dreaded taking artwork in and out of the frames but cork will work nicely. I'll go through my frames and see what I have. . .

    Michelle

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  3. Just found you from Imparting Grace linky party. I too have pinned those images and I love that you created your own. I am pinning yours too!! :) Can't wait to look around your blog. . your paragraph under your picture on your sidebar made me literally smile. . I have a smile on my face. You are a good writer. . can't wait to read more :)

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  4. You did a great job with this!! I do love a gallery wall. . . and what better than to display your kids' creations? :)

    ReplyDelete

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