Alternate Title: Greta's Butterflies
You see, Greta has a thing for butterflies. Her last room had a wall of butterflies above her bed and when we moved I packed them carefully back in the box to be used in her new room and I. cannot. find. that. box! Greta and I opened every unopened box from our move and still no luck. It's hiding somewhere and I'm still on the hunt.
In the meantime, I needed a backup plan. She still really wanted butterflies in her new room and I wanted to give them to her. Taking inspiration from this piece, I ordered this butterfly specimen poster from Urban Outfitters for $24. The quality is really nice. The paper has an almost canvas feel to it. Greta's eyes lit up when she saw it, "My butterflies!" She would be happy just having it taped up on her walls, but I, of course, had plans to add a vintage-looking frame before hanging it in her room.
Ta-da! Here's what I did:
I gathered some 1.5" thin pine for the back piece and used leftover white oak we had cut to the same size for the front slats. The oak was considerably denser and heavier and I didn't want to risk ripping the poster (even though it is thick itself), so I used pine on the back. All four slats got a coat of walnut stain.
Then we pre-drilled just what would be the front pieces (the oak in our case) for 2 screws per slat that would connect the front and back pieces of wood once our poster was in between.
The last step before sandwiching the poster was attaching my hanging string. I found this cute red and white twine at my craft store. I just eyeballed a string length, tied a little knot and glue gunned it in place. Make sure you flatten that glue dot so your wood pieces will stick together flat, as well!
I put a line of glue to adhere the paper to the wood on both ends and when that was set, I also glued the wood together. Even though I was screwing the slats together as well, the glue gun was hot and I figured a little extra enforcement couldn't hurt.
The last thing I adhered was a little label frame I spray painted gold and slid in an ivory card that I wrote "Greta's Butterflies" on. I drove four screws into the front slats (2 on top and 2 on bottom) and that was it!
A "vintage" poster hanger in about an hour. Greta has her butterflies again (I think she likes these ones even better!). All is right in the world.
Have the best weekend, you guys!
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Hey Julia, do you remember where you bought the label frame from? Trying to find something like the one you used but I cannot seem to locate one anywhere! Thanks!
-Colin
ohhh great idea....got a periodic chart at Paper Source for my daughter who is a chemical engineer and couldn't decide how to frame or mount it....this is PERFECT! Thanks!!!
I was inspired by this post to decorate my office and purchased a couple of the Paper Source wrapping paper prints. I stained and cut a free yard stick (Culligan booth giveaway at a home and garden show) and attached clips. I have gotten complements from everyone that walks by! Best project under $10! Thank You!
Wow, your handwriting is amazing!
Thank you, Christiane! I always tell people to just write as fast as they can and it will turn out the best.
I know I should be patient for the big reveal, but I've been hunting for the right pink for my little girl's room, and this is it! Any chance you can tell me what color that is?
Definitely! It's Clark + Kensington's Rose Quartz. You can see those details in this post: https://chrislovesjulia.com/2014/09/34-painted-pink-walls-in-gretas-room.html
Such a great idea! Greta's room is going to be A-mazing when you're finished. I can't wait to see it all put together.
Us either! We still have a couple more items trickling in that we ordered. Hopefully soon!
I got a cool map of the world from Paper Source for under $4, sold as wrapping paper (and it looks like its the same size as your butterfly poster)- we just have it hanging on the wall right now with washi tape. I think we'll give this a try! Thanks for the idea!
Glad everyone else has been mentioning Paper Source as well. One of my favorite shops. No biggie (not like this was a $5000k couch someone else was selling way lower), but for your future art, they've got a cool selection of stuff.
But the hanging looks GREAT. We are considering some of Paper Source's prints for our kitchen/dining area and this might be perfect.
Definitely gonna bookmark them.
I have this exact print from Paper Source. This EXACT butterfly poster. I paid $6CAN for it. Holy gouging urban outfitters! Frame looks amazing though! I was looking for a way to DIY my same poster. Thank you.
So charming! I love how it turned out.
such a cute way to make the poster look a little fancier! Definitely an idea I'm filing away for later.
I LOVE THIS! I can't wait to see Greta's whole room. I'm loving the vintage feel and I'm sure it looks lovely with the green chalkboard. So very sweet!
I really like the simplicity of this frame, instead of going the usual route of putting the art behind glass/plexi and using a four-sided frame. This is perfect for a kid's room (and obviously Great is so happy!). Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!
Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference, isn't it? So glad that Greta's happy with it. And now I've got inspiration for how to hang more art in my own bedroom!
You know this frame is right up my alley. The Ardent Forager used something similar to market a series of vintage posters of the anatomy. There's an airy feel to this method of framing art. Brava. Beautiful.
FYI, Paper Source has all of these posters under their Cavallini wrapping paper selection for $4. Not sure why Urban Outfitters sells them for $20 more. Maybe they are printed on different paper, but I don't think so.
http://www.papersource.com/item/Cavallini-Butterflies-Wrapping-Paper/3650.041/463713.html
I LOVE this project! I was looking at cheap poster frames and was so not impressed by the flimsy plastic options. Not only is this inexpensive, but utterly awesome. Thank you for the inspiration! On another note, I was glad to see a recipe post from Chris recently. I was totally missing those :)
He has been so, so busy at work. I have been doing some cooking. And we have also been doing the Whole30. But he has come up with delicious food even on that program I hope he'll share soon. Thanks, Barbi!
Love this frame idea! I got the exact same print at Paper Source for 3.95 awhile back (looks like they still carry it at that price, too) but didn't know quite what to do with it. I will definitely be hanging it this way sometime soon!
Nooooo!!! I should have shopped a little more. Good find. Is the paper thick? I am just wondering because it is marketed as "wrapping paper." Amazing find.
I don't know how it compares to the UO poster, but I was impressed with the quality of Paper Source's prints. It's not cardstock or anything, but it's at least as thick as as 24 lb paper.
Alan is spot on, it is thick paper but not cardstock. I got so lucky, the only reason I found it is because I happened to have a gift card to Paper Source. I am guessing the UO poster might be thicker so if mine doesn't hold up to mounting this way, I might spring for the poster version.
I bet it is the same exact one. Now I know. :)