Also earlier this spring, my little sister Nette made me this paperclip chain out of twine and ribbon. I found the huge paperclips recently at Wal-Mart--15 paperclips for $1. So I had that pinned directly against this wall above our stove with recipes, postcards, and photos clipped on.

After the bathroom remodel we have a lot of wood scraps around and I schemed a solution to these problems. I cut out all the wood to make a shelf and Rhett helped me screw it together. I painted my little message on it and it serves as storage for my beloved mixing bowls, and displays Nette's photo ribbon.

To go above the bowls, I thought it would be cool to have photographs of brightly colored fruit to coordinate with the bowls. I chose to display the green, orange and blue bowls and so took photos of green apples, tangerines, and blueberries. the blueberries I took at home but the rest I didn't purchase.

I planned it out and took my camera with me to work and I got off a little after 6am and hurried to HyVee and was casually wandering around the produce section. I felt like I had to sneak my photos, pretending to look for ripe fruit and then began snap, snap, snapping away with my camera. A look over the shoulder and another round, rearranging the fruit until I was satisfied and moving on to the next color. Maybe they wouldn't care, but in high school I got reprimanded for filming in a grocery store, so I guess in my mind photography in a store would also be what they described in high school as "illegal".

I really would have liked to use square metal tart pans with the crimped edges as "frames" for my photos, but they were expensive--they were actual pans, so instead I used cardboard casserole dishes for $2 and I think it still shows the fact I used a kitchen item as a frame, even though it is definitely low budget.

Anyway, it all came together and I really like it. It was an inexpensive project:

wood shelf- free

paint--already had it

Pan frames-- $2

Print 3 square photos-- $6

So for $8 bucks I have a new wall. I am detailing the costs because recently Rhett helped me realize I have a "project problem". The addiction most likely won't be suppressed, he just requests future projects will pack well for when we move. I did point out the money I make by painting and selling signs goes to fund my future projects. He just laughs and he really doesn't care, it is me justifying my project fund in our budget by making sure it is self sustaining and that I sell enough signs to fund my next idea.