A couple of weeks ago, I started turning a stash of family photos, mat board and old frames into something I could actually hang on a wall. The wall in the stairwell, to be exact. And, last week, my mom came over and we “put the puzzle together.” We were dealing with a really odd space and a lot of mismatched frames, so we didn’t try to approach it with a goal of perfection and symmetry.  We wanted to create something that was pleasing to the eye, but looked collected over time.  We didn’t check the spacing with a ruler, but just put things where they looked good. We started with the long, narrow frames, then added in the larger ones, then filled the arrangement in with the smaller frames. And I love how it turned out.  I smile every time I walk up and down the steps.  I’ve even made

I have had a bin of family pictures, a box of matts and glass, a stash of frames and a mat cutter hanging out in my to-do pile for years.  YEARS!  And that is not an exaggeration.  It really is ridiculous.  Since I’m working on the finishing touches on my house, it is time to do some framing. I have had dreams of creating a gallery wall in our stairway since the day we moved in.  Now that things are freshly painted, I’m ready to create the gallery wall.  (I think just on the wall to the right, so it’s not too overwhelming for the narrow space.) That project starts with the pictures. I get emotional going through old pictures.  I’m not sentimental about very many things, but pictures and handwritten letters, get me choked up.  I think it’s because I know what happens to old, nameless pictures.  They end up in