Frame

How do you display the most incredible gift you have ever received? It takes a lot of thought. Now back to the gift. Steven's brother wrote a letter to John McCain (an Arizona senator). The outcome was the American flag that flew over the US Capital building the day we were married. This is the coolest gift EVER! Steven was a history major. I was a political science major. The gift could not be more fitting. So how do you properly display this awesome flag?

First choice: One of those itty bitty triangle flag holders. Can you hear my enthusiasm in number one?

Second choice: Have the flag professionally framed. Don't get me started on pricing even with a 50% off coupon.

Third choice: Build your own frame.

Fast forward to option three (We priced out framing a 3 foot by 5 foot flag…Ridiculous!). We started by building a simple frame. In our first attempt to decorate the frame we tried to decoupage using maps. It did not look pretty at all. Then we decided to go simple and purchased some chalkboard paint. We thought we could write funny quotes or use it to decorate for holidays. Tip: Once you open a can of chalkboard paint you must use it within a certain amount of time, I want to say 24 hours. That being said, we painted some other items in our house and we'll get to that in another post.

At this point the frame was a bit blah and more than anything, cheap. So the frame sat until one day when we ended up meeting an old man at a swap meet in Apache Junction. He sold us some license plates. We collected a few more plates that my dad had saved from old cars and then screwed them to the frame.

Now we had a 6 by 4 foot frame with a 5 by 3 hole. We purchased the glass, added the flag, finished the backing of the frame and what we ended up with was a 150 lbs framed flag. We had no idea how we were going to lift if up above the fireplace or hang the frame on the wall. With the help of cleat hangers (once you go cleat hanger you will never go back) and four people lifting we were left with a lovely, eye catching piece in our living room.

We love our creations but we do not always think out what we are doing. Hence the previous post on the trip to the paint aisle. This is a 150 lbs example. All we can say is - THANKS SCOTT!