Gallery Wall

I recently got the urge to add some new art to our living room wall.  Jason has long wished to change out the Italian landscape prints we got from Kirkland's when we first got married.  I started thinking and had the idea to make a gallery wall using frames made out of different woods and wood tones.  Our furniture is still transitioning from hand-me-downs and garage sale finds to pieces we actually have bought for ourselves, and as a consequence, we have several different shades of wood in our living room.

 

We made a quick trip to an antique store a few weeks ago and were able to find 7 frames - all of different sizes and styles - for $30 total.  Last week I searched our house for art we already had to see if it would work in the frames.  Sure enough, I was able to scrounge up enough to make it work. 

 

Here's a before picture of the Italian landscape art:

 

 

And here's an after picture of our new gallery wall:

 

Don't mind Jason and the dog.  They are too lazy to move out of the picture.

 

Here's a close-up since it's kinda hard to see in the previous pictures:

From the top left, clockwise:

The first piece is an owl by local artist, Janice Cookston.
The sunflower is a photo print by Jason's mom.
The next is a wooden moose we got in Alaska, which just happened to fit perfectly in a 5"x7" frame.
The long vertical frame has some homemade art using book covers.
The larger framed photo is of my grandfather when he was a child with his grandmother.
The small photo is a picture I took of the old Kennecott mine in Alaska.
The shadowbox includes pictures from our camping trips.   I made this piece for Jason last year for our 5 year anniversary.
The painting of the water well is something Jason got me last year for our anniversary as well.
And the small flower painting we picked up at the antique store when we bought the frames.

Now we have the option to add to the collection whenever we find something neat or switch out pictures whenever we want.

Since I borrowed some of our art from other areas of the house, I printed out some of my photographs from the past few years and put them up.

It was a fun and easy project and I'm looking forward to enjoying it.

El Chupacabra

Last weekend Jason participated in the El Chupacabra de Houston 10k night trail run at Lake Houston Wilderness Park (about an hour north of town).  I decided to sit this one out.  I can hardly stay upright running on trails during the daylight.

 

Even though it was a night race, we got there mid-afternoon to set up our camp. 

 

Shortly after dark, the race started.  The runners ran with headlamps and glow sticks.

 

Jason was the first person to cross the finish line for the 10k.  The girl you see in the picture ahead of him was running the 5k.

The best part of the night (for me anyways) was the beer and BBQ afterwards.  It was a fun race.  Maybe next year I'll participate rather than being a spectator.

Art Car Parade

We finally made it to the Art Car Parade after living in Houston for over 3 years!  I'm so glad we went.  It was definitely the most interesting parade I've ever been to. 

 

 

The low rider above reminded me of home (South Texas). 

 

 

The car above was put together by kids at Jason's school.  How cool is that?

 

Similar to the Renaissance Festival, I found myself thinking, "I need to do this."  Seriously, all I figure we need to do is buy a used car and everyday pick up something random and glue it on there.  It's not like we use our garage for anything else. 

 

Anybody want to join us?

Play Buddy

My favorite play buddy visited this weekend while his parents were in town for work and a friend's wedding shower.  I didn't get to spend much time with his little brother, but he and I got some quality play time in. 

Last year when he visited around this time he was still a squishy little non-walking non-talking baby.

 

Now he's a walking, talking big boy.

 

Glad I got to spend sometime outside on this pretty spring day!