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.

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.


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!

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.

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.

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 🙂
