Paper Sample Art for the Kitchen

Wall art is freaking expensive. Even the "cheap," mass-produced stuff from Kohl's and the like is expensive if you have to buy something in multiples to fill a big empty wall. I'm not knocking the ready-made pieces (some of my favorite art in the living room is from Michael's), but when it's possible I'd rather make something myself or thrift it.

Such was the case with this little bit of art I made for the kitchen. "Art" is perhaps too kind a word. I cut up some paper , taped it to some more paper, and stuck the result in some frames. But I chose fun paper! I learned about Papermojo through another blog and spent something like eight days going through their gorgeous selection of marbled and printed papers. The best part is, you can order samples for a fraction of the price of a full sheet. The samples I got were about $0.80 each, with another $1 for shipping all four of them.

The frames I used were from the Dollar Tree, as was the poster board I used to make the "mats." I could have bought mats from Walmart or similar for about $2 each, and I still might, but the poster board was readily available and cost me $0.50.

I took pictures of the process, but seriously, a monkey with a pair of scissors could do this. Start by gittin' yerself the aforementioned scissors, a ruler, some tape and a pencil.

Quickly realize you're an idiot for trying to use dull scissors to get straight cuts, then grab an Exacto knife and a cutting board:

I used the glass from the picture frames as a template and traced them on the poster board with pencil. Once I had my "mats" all traced out, I used the cursed scissors to cut out the 8x10 rectangles, then got my grubby pencil-smudged hands all over the poster board. Try not to do that.

Here's a shot of the frames I used:

They are, as you may have guessed, $1 each at the Dollar Tree. They are the cheapest, flimsiest thing around, but they have a matte gold/brass finish that I really like, and they are $1. It's tough to find multiples of frames in the size you need at a thrift store, and I refuse to pay marked-up Walmart prices for frames of the exact same quality.

I used the Exacto knife, a ruler and the cutting board to cut my paper samples down from 5x8.5 to 5x7 so the fake mats I used wouldn't look so... fake.

Little caveat here: mounting photos, paper samples, whatever, on poster board will definitely not achieve the same finished look as using an actual mat, but if you're cheap and impatient, it will do. Fortunately, I am both.

Once the samples were cut to size, I centered them on the mats, secured them with a loop of tape, and stuck them in the frames. They are NOT perfect, but they're cute and colorful and make the kitchen look happy. Here's the finished product!

Ummm, that's Pete in the lower left-hand corner holding a Tupperware of leftover rice. He was trying to make dinner while I was taking these...

I secured them to the wall using a bit of leftover double-stick foam tape (love that stuff!). I probably should have waited until the oven was not on and the wall wasn't super hot, because when I repositioned a couple of them to make sure they were level, the tape took up some of the paint. Sad sam. But you can't see it, so whatevs, yo.

So that's that! What do you think?

Til next time,

Leigh