In my haste to post yesterday about this house, I forgot to include one of my favorite photos of the bunch:
The home owner explains that she found a book at a flea market called “All About Your Canary,” cut it apart and framed the pages for her hallway. Looks great, right?
You can buy “All About Your Canary” (published in 1951) on Amazon for $19.99.
I know I talk about it all the time, but I really love framing pages from books.
Everyone knows and uses the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities for this. And during recent trips to Anthropologie, I’ve been eyeing another gorgeous book about butterflies and insects (cheaper here)
Don’t you think the images look really similar to the art used in this great photo (from Domino)?
I also love any calendar made by Cavelli and Sons for a framed print series. Their images are so gorgeous and are printed on nice, heavy paper. And I think (depending on the wall size) that 12 is the perfect number of prints for a series.
Wouldn’t these birds look great in a dining room? Sort of like a poor man’s chinoiserie paper!
A little tip – calendars go on mega-sale in February and March. I saw a few left in Paper Source last week even. They were less than $10 each.
I think I’m going to start stocking up on these when they are on sale. I’d cut the pages out and wrap them up in a pretty bow for a hostess gift.
Look at the great calendars they have for 2010…
What have you framed to make cheap art?
you might like iris design on etsy. she is on etsy, google and you should find it or there is a recent post about iris design on my blog with links to her etsy shop
Luke and I met on a political campaign, so I had bumper stickers from 2000 framed as an homage to our relationship – it’s by far one of my favorite things in our home.
Lately, I’m very big on taking large frames and using to-the-trade fabric as the artwork. I buy remnants (a yard or two) on eBay and they look really pretty and fresh. For super cheap.
Stephanie in NJ
I saw a cute idea in a special issue of Canadian House and Home’s Condos and Lofts edition. Someone framed shopping bags from luxe shops from all over the world (they worked in fashion pr) in a gallery wall style. It looked cute.
I love your blog. I just found it a little bit ago. You have great ideas and I love that you show how to do things yourself. Very cool!
I love how groupings of art can stand in for large pieces. The beetle picture is so much fun. I’d love that for our library.
Antique sheet music – some has beautiful pictures on the front. I especially like World War 2 era.
i have an old hymn from my great grandmother’s hymnal framed, old hankies, and then pictures from old bibles..also do botanical prints from calendars etc ~melanie
Where was the farmer's market calendar? I couldn't seem to find on Paper Source!
I also saw a frame made out of license plates at Smith & Wollensky — kind of neat!
Still enjoying your blog — great eye!
Actually, I just finished framing some prints torn from a book myself, and they’re also of birds! In my case the book was Charley Harper’s Birds and Words by Charley Harper. I first saw the book at Anthropologie and fell in love with his style. I ended up buying it cheaper on Amazon.
I forgot to mention, I also just finished framing a bunch of different book plates. I’ve been collecting them for years, and now that I actually have a room for all my books it needed suitable decoration! Pictures are on my blog.
I found this great book called “Do You Have The Time Lydia?” at a schools rummage sale. It’s the story of a girl going to the beach with her brother and saving a seagull and it ends with some sort of parade. It was printed in the 70’s and has wild and fun graphics. I put it up in two rows by my desk, storybook style and it looks great. I like to change up my look frequently so I didn’t use frames. It makes me think of the beach and the summer so its just what I need right now.
A really fun thing to do for a child’s room or nursery would be to pick up a book from travel (different languages would be really cool) and frame a page from each around a common theme (heroines, animals, the ocean etc.) It’s something kids could get involved in too, which is always nice.
Alex @
fromaloft.blogspot.com
Those are great ideas. I have framed fabric and scrapbook paper, and recently my daughter made a collage out of tags from clothing and framed that. It looks way cool in her room.
Calendar Outlet has a bunch of the Cavallini calendars on sale. $12.95 for the Farmer's Market one and $7.95 for the Birds one. But I didn't try to check out, so it's possible that they're not actually available.
http://www.calendaroutletstore.com/index.php?k=cavallini&c=calendars
Just stumbled upon your blog and it’s a treasure trove!
I’ve framed decorative paper and vintage postcards. Found a great magazine ad promoting vacationing in New England torn out of a mag from the 1920s or 30s. Just framed that too. Keep meaning to use this idea and make a shadowbow of antique keys: http://www.dominomag.com/galleries/2008/12/dollar_gifts?slide=16
we framed pages out of old Pooh book for our children’s nursey. we found cheap frames at a thrift store, painted them with a pretty yellow, and framed the pictures. tehy look amazing in the room. i’m so happy we did it!