Thanks to a “Christmas card” from my frenemy Revenue Canada (love the tax return, hate the tax audit), my art budget for my living room dwindled to nothing. However, not before I purchased these lovely (far too expensive!) frames from Chapters.

The warmth of the silver leaf frame and the texture of the linen matte are what made me fall in love with these frames.
The warmth of the silver leaf frame and the texture of the linen matte are what made me fall in love with these frames.

Due to the change in my budget these lovely frames hung empty on the wall for several weeks. My longer term goal is to order these simple, yet beautiful herb prints from etsy.

They aren't too expensive. Just too expensive for the moment.
They aren’t too expensive. Just too expensive for the moment.
Painted by "The Paper Wing" on etsy
Painted by “The Paper Wing” on etsy

However, since even these reasonably priced prints are a bit rich for me at the moment, I went out shopping with a budget of $10. One can only stand empty frames for so long! I headed to Chapters to look for some kind of book with pictures I could tear out and frame. Over in the bargain books section I found many options within my price range. I decided on a book full of cherry blossom prints which rang up a grand total of $6 (below budget!). So much better than blank frames!

Poor Steve spent so much time hanging the frames in alignment then I went and skewed them (as seen)
Poor Steve spent so much time hanging the frames in alignment then I went and skewed them (as seen)

IMG_0386

There were so many options. I also scored a lovely day planner, on sale for $10 with beautiful pictures from the collection at the FIT Museum (Fashion Institute of Technology). Fashion is by no means my forte but I know it will come in use for my fashion savvy sister whether she uses it as a day planner or frames the pictures for creative inspiration in her sewing space.

One of the images in the book
One of the images in the book

Another fantastic option for framing was the Penguin classic postcards. For under $35 you can get 100 postcards with pictures of different Penguin Classics. If I ever have a designated library/study room you can be sure I’ll be picking up these beauties and setting up a display like the one below.

Clearly I'm not the only one who realized how fantastic these would be to frame.
Clearly I’m not the only one who realized how fantastic these would be to frame.

A note of warning: If you plan on tearing apart a book for the sake of wall art, I recommend doing it when your toddler is not around…sets a confusing example 🙂

The kids are always in the picture...both literally and figuratively (you can even see the little hand in the right lower corner of one of the pictures above).
The kids are always in the picture…both literally and figuratively

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