anatomy of a gallery wall

Happy Monday! I trust that y'all had a splendid weekend. We got pummeled with more snow than we should have for the whole month of December, never mind the fact that it is almost April. Mamma ain't happy. I've got some flip flops burning a hole in my closet. I need spring!

I want to thank all of you for your kind words about the girls' room and all of your great questions. You know how to make a girl blush! There were lots of questions about things on the gallery wall so I thought I would tackle those today.

Here are the specifics on what I included and why.

1. Keep it personal. This is a 'commissioned original'. I wanted something vertical so I asked my uber talented graphic designer bestie to take some lyrics and make them pretty. This is from a song, I Will, by a little band called The Beatles. I sing this each night to the girls (Eve sings along). They are the only ones allowed to hear me sing unless cocktails are involved.

2. Add something with dimension. A craft I did with the girls for Valentine's Day. It is their handy work and they are very proud of it.

3. Humor is important. Let me introduce you to Herb. 'Herbie' to his friends. The hubs got the ceramic dear head for Christmas and as soon as he opened it the girls were smitten. It was Amelia's idea to put Herbie in their room and the hubs was gracious enough to share him. Right now he wears some forsythia for this season I hear we are supposed to get someday called 'spring', but Amelia is on the hunt for the perfect antlers (aka branches) that we can make glittery. Because when you think of a mounted deer head, you think of glitter. At least I do.

4. Art is in the eye of the beholder. An unsolicited piece by Amelia herself. She came into the kitchen one day over the moon to show this off. My favorite is a toss up between the swing on the tree and the paver walk. The girl is a genius obviously.

5. Include something that includes all the colors of your scheme. One of my favorite watercolors from MaiAutumn.

6. More pretty watercolors my parent's gave Eve for her 1st birthday. And yes, the one on the right is in there sideways.

7. You need an 'awww' factor. I keep several pieces of clothes from the early baby days (no matter what my mom might tell you about my sentimentality) and this is one of the few items that both of them wore. This is the hat that both girls had on when they came home from the hospital. How I wish I had better handwriting.

And good gracious, have you ever tried to take a picture of something behind glass?! It isn't pretty, and neither are the pictures.

8. History. The girls' birth announcements. Memories.

9. Add a bit of life. Mean I know as they are no longer alive, but the girls love butterflies. And the yellow ties into the colors of the room. Any random group of things can become cohesive thru color.

10. Break the routine. A vintage oval gold frame from my stash. Something nice and round...or oval, helps to break up all the squares and straight lines.

11. Words to live by. Kate Spade has spoken. Amen Kate.

12. Lessons Learned. I believe I wrote this in sixth grade. There is also an accompanying illustration that severely dates me. Let's just say Benetton was one of the stores featured. They did have great rugbys. I'll keep that little drawing for myself.

13. B. Baumgartner. No expanding on that really.

And yes, I used my tried and true template hanging method and it worked like a charm. Take that plaster.

So that is how I go about picking what little nuggets make it up on the wall. How do you pick what goes on your wall?