Bow Ribbon Frames

I have been looking for a tall and skinny frame or something to fill out my mini gallery wall in the bedroom. I was at Meijer with my sister awhile back and saw the cutest little black frames that hung from black and white ribbon. I thought it looked easy enough to do myself (even though the frames were only around $6 each) so I bought 2 $3 frames and a roll of ribbon which in retrospect cost me almost the same as if I had just bought the already made frames. Oh silly DIYing. But I was determined to just make them myself AND I found a roll of ribbon that matched the background of my button H frame (see how I made that here).

It was a super easy project. I just tied the ribbon into bows and secured the back with a little hot glue. Then I measured out the tails and glued the ends to the back of the frames (on an angle so they didn't hang funny).

Viola! The perfect fit for my gallery wall.

Gallery Wall

This post has been a long long time coming. The Gallery Wall was semi-finished back at Thanksgiving, and honestly still isn't done now. But it is close enough. So here goes.

I picked a big blank wall in the living room to create the Gallery Wall on. I consulted a few different sources on how to go about planning and hanging all the frames. Young House Love has a good description. In the end I did the time consuming, cut out newspapers the same size as your frames, method. It worked very well. Much better than if I had tried to hang them with my usual method - which is stick a nail in the wall and hope it is in the right spot. But first, I had to collect all these frames. I only bought three of them brand new, the rest I already had or my sister scored from left over rummage sale items. Only 5 of them were originally white. The rest I spray painted over the course of a few days. See this post about how to spray paint frames.

(one of the rummage sale beauties before I removed

the art and spray painted the frame white). 

Here is the newspaper layout up on the wall - I actually have trimmed down a few since then, this layout was a little overwhelming.

The best part about the newspaper process is that you don't even have to move the newspaper cutouts to put your nail in the wall - just rip the newspaper away around it.

Here is the play by play of what I included:

This awesome "H" is just a print out from the website Daily Drop Cap - if you have never been, you need to go check it out now! Amazing art. Also, pictures T.J. and I took with his dad's fancy camera this summer in Mackinaw and here in our own back yard. 

In the upper left corner is a "pencil" drawing of our house. I just selected a picture of our home and selected "Pencil Sketch" in Picasa - viola, interesting art. Then we have our two fur babies on my sister's boat and a family picture sans-Lexi in Mackinaw. 

Here we have another picture of T.J. and I in Mackinaw (are you seeing a theme here? We love the place!) - and a key to another of our favorite places... Our graduation picture - we even got to walk at the same time. Finally, the big picture is of a good chunk of my family ice skating on my sister's lake in Michigan.

Here is the wedding picture collection - couldn't leave those out! On the left, our rehearsal, and on the right my favorite wedding picture + pictures with all the kiddos in our lives. 

The watery picture was taken in South Carolina (near Charleston) at a golf course where T.J. briefly worked. Tubing at my sisters lake.

Here is another graduation picture (without the silly black gowns) and our engagement picture. The empty frame below it I intended to hot glue a clip to, so I can switch out the picture easily.

This beauty I made out of an old sequin bag and a beautiful card my sister sent me. It is a candelabra and says "shine". 

Side View