3 Sweet & Sentimental Art Ideas, gathered in one list

A while back we promised another post about wall art, so here it is. Being sentimental- and on a budget- we have had to get creative in the art department. So until we can afford that original Warhol piece we have our eye on (yeah right), we will stick to providing interesting art alternatives.

For example, take this vintage map project that Sherry surprised me with this Christmas. She found this remarkable map (from 1907!) on eBay for around ten dollars, picked up a white frame at Ikea, and then took out the glass and brought in some cork backing and pinned the map in place. Then she stuck more pins (in fact called “map pins” from Office Depot) into all the places we have been together. It is lively interactive art. Plus it encourages us to get out there and see the country so we can stick more pins into the map asap.

Here is another straightforward project guaranteed to peak people’s interest (everyone who comes over gravitates towards this compact frame). As another surprise, this time for our anniversary, Sherry hunted down copies of some keys (all it took was a few calls to old New York City roommates) and framed them with little handwritten labels underneath each one.

The key on the top left says “John’s apartment, Upper West Side NYC, 2005”, the key on the top right says “Sherry’s apartment, The Village NYC, 2005”, the key on the bottom left says “Our first apartment, Richmond Virginia, 2006” and the key on the bottom right says “Our first house, Richmond Virginia, 2006.” Also note the black sea fan leaning next to the little framed keys. Sherry ordered that from an online sea-life website and simply threw it in a frame. Ain’t she clever?

This is another “custom” framed piece by my crafty wife- this time it is a shadow box full of objects from our backyard wedding (click here for some wedding photos). It was a strong way to remember the day and add another interesting and personalized art piece to our home. A fabric scrap from one of our table runners, a printed dessert napkin, a goofy Save The Date photo strip (we rented a photo-booth for the wedding), our invitation, our stamped place cards held down by river rocks, our favor bag (which contained a gladiolis bulb and had another photo strip clipped to the front), and even our thank you postcard (featuring a wedding photo) made it into the frame. I think she captured the casual, glad, summer day simply perfectly in our little wedding time capsule.

We hope these projects reinforce that there is truly no end to the things that you can frame. Please feel free to share your brilliant wall art ideas with us.