Clearance artwork revamp

A few weeks ago (ok, if we're being realistic it was probably a few months ago) I found a set of 3 seriously ugly prints on super-clearance at Joann's for like $3.97 each.

As if the prints weren't bad enough, the pewter frames made me gag. Alas, I looked deep - past their $3.97 price tags, baby blue leafs and shiny frames - to see their true potential.

So I took em apart and spray painted the frames all white one weekend.

(yes, I frequently utlize a thorn bush in my backyard as a spraypainting station)

Except I have no patience, and didn't FEEL like sanding them down beforehand, so they came out bumpy & bubbly and yucky and, thinking back, I probably had even whined to Scott about it, because he took pity upon me and started sanding them down so I could try the white paint thing again.(Sigh... sad face)

Thankfully I had been standing over him and was able to halt the sanding process when I realized how great they looked in their distressed stage.

The project pretty much ended there, as I couldn't find any maps either large enough (18"x6") or pretty enough for my tastes.

That is until a few weeks later when we were in Jamaica and I found these two Caribbean souvenir maps that screamed out my name. Good things come to those who wait, right?!

So I spent a few hours cutting up maps, spray adhesive'ing them to my hands to the preexisting foliage shot, replacing the glass, moving the hanging hardware to the opposite side, struggling to hold all 3 on the wall and eyeballing the location (what, I'm stubborn and didn't want help from anyone), hammering nails in, rehammering nails in when I realized how uneven they were, and then finally stepping back to admire my handiwork.

I now have three pretty pieces of artwork hanging on my dining room wall reminding me of my favorite place to escape to! The Caribbean!

Even though this project took me WAY longer than it should have to complete, I'm still really happy with it! It makes me smile everytime I walk through there. And for $12 worth of frames and $14 worth of maps, I can't really beat the price! A grand total of $20some for three framed pieces of art - yes please and thank you!