The Chance Family: DIY: Notecards to Artwork

Being in the military, we move locations about every two to three years. I love to commemorate each duty station with special items from the area we are in. When were stationed in Hawaii, I fell in love with pineapple items and also collected several pieces of Hawaiian inspired artwork. I love how these items have so much meaning and bring back great memories whenever I see them around our home.

Now that we are stationed in Monterey, I have been on the hunt for art and local pieces. I quickly realized that pieces were either very expensive or just not my style. One day I was shopping at the Navy Exchange at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and I stumbled upon some watercolor notecards on a spinning card rack. There were many different scenes, including the Bixby bridge, Monterey Bay, Lover's Point and of course several NPS scenes as well. I bought the items I was shopping for and didn't really think about them again until a couple of days ago. Weeks had gone by and I was still searching for the perfect "Monterey/NPS" artwork for our home. I had two 5x7 frames sitting in the closet with old photos from Hawaii and I was debating what to put in them and where to hang them. My mind instantly recalled the prints at the Navy Exchange. I couldn't remember the size of the cards, but I figured they would be 4x6 or 5x7. Worst case, I could contact the artist and have something made. I went back that afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find they were 5x7 (and would fit perfectly in my frames) and that they were 3.99 per card! What a steal! I decided on these two NPS scenes.

I was so excited to get home and put them into the frames! I prepped and cleaned the frames and then put the prints in the frame. They were just a little too small! I was so sad! But then I realized that the envelopes were just a smidge bigger then the prints, so I mounted them onto the envelopes and then placed into the frames. Michael's or any custom frame shop could make something custom for these prints, but since I already had the frames, I really wanted to make it work.