Framed Chicken Wire Card Display

 

I have been wanting to copy a project that I saw 

Debbie at ReFresh ReStyle blog did last spring

where she backed an open frame with chicken wire.

Debbie shows how you can have the framed chicken wire

 function as a sort of bulletin board or even a jewelry holder.

  I also thought the frame would serve well as

a display for Christmas cards so they could stay out

and in view to be enjoyed during the holiday season.

The frames started out as black frames with glass from
Michael's.  To make them look richer, I  painted the frames
gold then added patches of gold leafing on top of the paint.
I ordered reproduction antique blueprints off the internet
to approximate a designer's look I had seen that was $1000.
The copy cat attempt was about $100.

After a couple of years of the blueprints under glass, I switched

the artwork out with art posters.  I added a finish to the posters

that made them look kinda like original works with no glass.

This past summer I changed the posters and the paint finish on

the frames.  I tried to make the frames look like driftwood to go

with the beach-y art prints with a hand painted look.

  I wasn't very happy with the frames or the prints of this change.

I was ready to get rid of that look and try the framed chicken wire.

Cutting chicken wire and hammering nails seemed like a

good man-assisted project but Tom Kat wasn't too excited

about participating. In the end, he helped anyway.

The 2" opening chicken wire was the least exensive roll I

found at the home improvement store...it also would require

less cutting...so that's how that decision was made. 

The chicken wire was not wide enough to cover the opening

in the frames so we cut two pieces of chicken wire for each

 frame to layer them to cover the opening.

If you have a good stapler, you could just staple the 

wire onto the back of the frame.

We don't have a good stapler so we used nails that

 look like large staples and hammered

them in to keep the chicken wire in place.

The attaching of the chicken wire was pretty easy with two

people...one to hammer and one to keep the wire from rolling up.

I don't have good pictures of this part...a man on a mission

does not like to stop for photos.

We joined the two pieces of chicken wire together with

cut ends of the pattern.  We tried to match up the hexagons.

Here is what the finished product looked like

before any Christmas cards were added:

Since I am using some silver in this Christmas' decor, I tried

dry-brushing some silver paint over the driftwood color frames.

It looked holiday-ish enough.

To attach the cards to the chicken wire, I got some

teeny tiny wooden clothes pins at Michaels.

They got painted silver too.

Aren't the clothes pins cute?

If you need some "fillers" for your Chicken Wire

Christmas Card Display, you can add ornaments also.

I think the framed chicken wire will be great to change out

seasonally with different subject matter.  Debbie put burlap

behind her chicken wire; that is another element that

could be added/changed to the frames to keep them current.

 I'm linking this to the Under $100 Linky Party so here is a

cost breakdown for one chicken wire frame:

Original frame $25 (you may have one on hand)

Roll of chicken wire $8 (lots left over)

Tiny clothes pins $3 for 50

Silver acrylic paint $2

This beautiful card on the display reminds us that

"Jesus Is The Reason For The Season".