Wall O Fun–New York, NY

I love holiday cards.  I’ve always loved receiving (and sending) real mail, but seeing cards pour into our mailbox in the days leading up to Christmas brings me an unusual amount of joy.  But rather than toss our cards in a basket this year, I wanted a give them a new life as wall displays.  We have a VERY long hallway in our apartment (nicknamed the Bowling Alley), and I’ve been meaning to decorate it forever (more on that later this month).  Hanging our holiday cards was the perfect thing to jazz up the space for the season.  I knew that my daughter would love to see the faces and colorful designs every time she made her way from the living room to the kitchen, and I was right–she squealed with delight each time she passed by, pointing up to the cards and calling out the names of people that she recognized.

Rewind to November, when my friend Kathleen introduced me to the coolest store ever created. Located in the design district on Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach, CA, SoLo has antiques, crafts, books, glassware, furniture, photographs, children’s goodies, stationary, linens…pretty much a wonderful combination of all things that set my soul on fire.  I wanted to buy just about everything in the place.  But the warehouse-like space also gave me some great creative ideas.  One display caught my eye in the children’s area–some nice brown twine hung simply from a wall with a banner of letters clipped to it.  Very Etsy.  But what I loved was the string and the mini clothesline pins.  With those basics, the possibilities were endless.  So I purchased these adorable little boxes of mini clips and “useful string”, and packed them up for a journey back to NYC.  When I wanted to easily hang our holiday cards, I already had the tools! Check out the results below.  Next year I might use a 7/8″ striped red grosgrain ribbon instead of the neutral string, but I was so pleased with this year’s creation, it’s still up! Stay tuned this month for more ideas on fun ways to hang photographs in your home.