Cool Ideas: Pix Stick

Do you have problems hanging your pictures where you want them? Do your wall groupings look like they were hung by a blind man? Do your walls look like this?

(Kay, I'm sounding like an infomercial now! lol!) I had this same problem forever and I hated it! There is nothing more upsetting than trying to hang pictures up on a wall and having them look crooked and ill spaced!!

Here's a really simple solution that I've been using for several years now. I call it my "Pix Stick".

All you need is a paint stick and a screw  or nail (like my artwork?).

 Now I know you're wondering "How the heck is a paint stick and a screw gonna help me hang my pictures?" When you find out, you'll be thinking "Brilliant!".

As you can see, there's a screw "screwed" into one end of the stick.

You'll want as short a screw or nail as you can get and insert it about half way into the stick. Instead of putting the screw in so far down like mine (my stick split at the top cuz someone stepped on it so I had to lower the screw), you might wanna screw it in closer to the edge but not too close cuz the stick might split or break. I'd say screw it in about an inch from the end of the stick.

K, here's the back of a picture frame. Locate the picture "hanger". 

Another common hanger is a sawtooth hanger. (not all hangers look the same but the pix stick will work with all types of hangers)

Place the picture frame hanger over the head of the screw like you're hanging it.

It should look like this.

Pic 1                                                     Pic 2

While firmly holding the handle of the stick, put the picture against the wall. As you can see, you can either hold from the bottom (pic 1) or from the side (pic 2). Yes, I had a hard time holding the stick and taking pictures at the same time so I had my baby help me. See his chubby arms!

The "flatness" of the paint stick is ideal for getting the frame against the wall as close as possible to the way it would really look as if it were hanging on the wall itself.
 

Place your picture (on the stick) against the wall where you would like it to hang until you are satisfied with the placement. Press lightly but firmly against the frame (over the screw) to make a little mark on the wall. If you are hanging more than one picture, while the 2nd picture is on the stick against the wall, pay attention to placement by looking at 2 things. 1, you're going to see if pictures are horizontally level and 2, you're going to see if pictures are equally spaced.

Here I am pressing firmly against the frame at about the area of the screw to make a small mark on the wall.

The mark made by the screw is exactly where you will be putting your nail in the wall to hang your picture.

Your frame should hang nicely in the exact spot you "chose".

Here's a peek at some of the groupings in my home.

my kitchen entryway

My foyer

My livingroom

downstairs hall

my room

The loft

 

Soon, you will have all your plaques, clocks, picture frames and wall decor hanging so perfectly on the wall that they'll look like they got hung by a professional! The pix stick will be a wonderful, handy addition to your arsenal. It is one of the most utilized tool in my own arsenal. I really don't know what I would do without it! (I'd probably have way more holes in my walls than I'd like)

Happy Hanging!

Brandi-Lee

Cool Ideas (Vacation Keepsake Displays)

My children and I love keeping things that we've acquired from places we've visited and vacations we've taken. These special mementos usually ended up in our "special keeps" box (a plastic tote that gets rummaged through only once every year on our "memory day").

The thing that bothered me so much about chucking stuff in the keeps box is that we couldn't enjoy the mementos and  pictures more often.

Sure we could've brought them out to look at more than just once a year but going through a pile of ticket stubs, postcards, foliage (that's right, foliage) and reciepts doesn't really sound appealing, does it? Actually it kinda sounds like tax time! Groaaaan! Not to mention all

the pictures that were put on my hard drive stayed there . . . .doing nothing. . . .but sitting. . . .

THE MADNESS HAD TO STOP!!

Sorry, I got a little carried away there. Anyways, I had come up with a solution for those really special vacations that had lots of mementos and pictures.

I framed them!

Sorry bout the hideous pictures, no matter what, the "glass"

in the frame would reflect light from every which way so I had to improvise.

As you can see we kept our theme park maps, ticket envelopes, tickets, stroller tag, postcards, brochures, card keys, foliage gathered, wristbands, etc. We used whatever we kept to help us remember the wonderful time we had on that particular vacation. 

These frames are poster frames that I would buy whenever I saw some at a garage sale. I paid .25 for the 22x28 frame

and $3 for the 24x36 frame at two separate garage sales.

 I've found that these frames were the best for framing mementos because

1. There's no glass, just a thin, plastic covering so it's lighter (all the mementos tend to get a little heavy especially as the frames get larger)  

2. They are easier to hang because they come with "clips" that hold backing in place  

3. They are also able to accept not so flat items or bulky items (if you look really closely, I have an acorn in one of the frames) because of the clip backing 

4. You can find large poster frames for much less than what you would pay for regular frames of the same size. 

5. You can find these frames quite easily at almost any garage sale

When you have your frame and all your stuff,  take the frame off and just start placing the items on the "frame backing" according to how you want it to look. (make sure you are doing all this on a flat surface) I filled the entire area so that there was no background showing through. I used the maps and brochures in the background to cover more area. Put the frame over the backing to see what gets cut off by the frame (there will always be just a little cut off on the borders, this will help with placement. When you are sure you absolutely LOVE the placement, tack each and every one of the mementos down to the backing (either with double sided tape or fold pieces of tape on itself to make it double sided) This will ensure all the stuff won't fall down to the bottom of the frame when you hang it. Replace the frame and Hang!

These frames hang in our loft and the children love stopping to look at them to remember the good times we had on our vacations.

Another way I think is really cool to display keepsakes from a trip is to make Trip Jars.

These are very inexpensive because they can be extra glass food jars that you have laying around. These are pickle jars. Wide mouth jars are the best for this particular project. I also love the look of mason/canning jars.

All you need to make these is 1. the jar, and 2. the keepsakes.

I usually take the label off by scraping it with a razor blade (you know those razor blade scrapers). These are very effective tools to take all the paper and the glue off the glass. (Be very careful if using the razor blade method)

A lot of the time, the lids will also have labeling on it. All I do is 1. remove the lids and 2. give it a light coat of spray paint. Usually one coat will do!

There are several ways to label your glass. There's vinyl, sticky labels (file folder/return address labels), homemade tags, glass etching, etc. My favorite method is vinyl. I like to put, 1. where we went on that trip and 2. what year it was. You can put whatever it is that you want to put on it, it's all up to you.

There are soooo many ways to display keepsakes and mementos, this is just 2 of them! I hope you will go through those boxes and drawers of "stuff" that you're keeping and put it to use! (or you can just face the facts that you are a packrat and love holding on to stuff that you will never, ever be able to enjoy only to have rodents eat them forcing you to eventually throw them out and then feeling sad that you never actually did anything with them when you had the chance!) <---- This could be you! Don't let it happen, you're better than that!

Brandi-Lee