Let’s talk about art, friends.

This is the art that hangs above Mila’s crib in her nursery.
I’d like to temporary stop and brag about how I cut the photo mat on the left all by myself, but it’s actually kind of embarrassing.

I got the “Love” print by Katie Daisy…

…but then realized that I didn’t have a frame for it. So I scavenged in the garage and came up with this frame I bought at a yard sale for all of a dollar.

And I bought a piece of glass from Lowes for about $8. They’ll cut it to size for you right in the store for free. Then, if you’re pregnant and you get the really nice older gentleman to cut it for you, he’ll even walk the glass out to your car for you, amidst your protests that thank you SO much, but you really don’t mind carrying it yourself.

The frame was larger than the print, so I did a little more scavenging and found some uncut white photo mats I’d bought from Michaels a while back. I thought – “How hard can it be to cut my own photo mat?”

NOW.

I don’t know when I’ll learn that thinking “How hard can it be?” before attempting a project is practically a guarantee that it’ll fail.

Anyway, I should have a foot-shaped indention on my face after trying to cut a photo mat on my own. It just seems crazy to pay $10* for a large pre-cut mat when I could buy the mat and cut it on my own, right?**

*I actually have no idea how much a pre-cut mat costs.
**Which makes this project seem increasingly ridiculous the more I type.
***See why I need that person to follow me around?

Have I mentioned that I don’t own a mat cutter?

But I had a razor blade. So I cut the mat to the size of the glass…

Then started measuring for the opening while Andy watched, amused, from the sofa. I’ll spare you all the gory details, but this is how it went down.

Me, to Andy: Wow, this is hard. I measured the opening and drew it out but it doesn’t look right.
Andy: Do you want me to help you?
Me: What? Nooo… you don’t have to… you’re busy… so… I’ll just… (Long pause.)
Andy: I can help you.
Me: (A little too eagerly) UmWellOkaySure!
Andy: (Does it all himself while I watch and say nice things about his muscles.)

His efforts may have included some carpentry tools.

But in the end, it was kinda-mostly-squarish, which was not at all the results I would’ve gotten on my own. We cut up a cardboard box for the back of the frame.

And because this would be hanging over the crib, we wanted to be extra careful there was no chance that giant shards of glass would fall out of the frame and onto our sleeping spawn. So Andy backed the whole frame with a piece of hardboard that he had in the garage. (At this point, it sounds like our garage is just a giant mess of random pieces of things… Yes. Yes, it is.)

And to secure the entire frame to the wall, we used these hooks which we screwed into wall anchors and into studs to make sure it was extra sturdy and would not fall.

We don’t live in an earthquake-prone area or anything, so we both feel very confident this is a safe setup for a sweet sleepin’ beauty.

But I wanted some more art to go along with that frame. I found another small frame from our mess-of-random-things garage. This little faux bamboo frame looked just right. It was about a buck or two at a yard sale.

And I got to photoshoppin’. My favorite bible verse to celebrate the birth of a new person is this one, from Psalm 139:14 – “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I came up with this simple little get-up and printed it at walmart…

…then just threw it in the frame and called it a day. So super easy.

Finally, I had this wreath that my sweet, crafty friend Emily made for my baby shower a while back:

Isn’t it sweet?! The whole wreath was too big for my little mini-gallery, but that little “M” was just perfect. Emily got the cardboard “M” from Joann – with a 40% off coupon! – then wrapped it with tulle, securing it as she went with hot glue. It was perfect!

Thanks, Em!

And that completed the little mini-gallery-wall above Mila’s crib.

Now’s the part where you guys tell me that cutting a picture mat with a razor is really a very smart idea, and there’s an easy trick that makes the whole job super snappy and fast. Right? Have you ever tried to do this?