Gallery Wall Expansion

Awhile back, I started a mini gallery wall of sorts.  I had always planned to expand upon it, but I just never got around to it.  So, for awhile, it looked like this:

Well, a few weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to expand.  But before I could begin I had to do a bit of planning. I happened to have a whole bunch of frames left over from projects past, so I traced any and every frame I could find on to newspaper.  I, then, used painter's tape to secure each one to our wall in various layouts...until I found one that I liked.  By using the newspaper templates, I didn't have to worry about putting a whole bunch of nail holes in the wall while I tried to get it right!

While I already had tons of frames, I did have one small problem.    Some were white, and some weren't...but I wanted them all white.  Obviously, that was a pretty easy fix with a can of spray paint  Easy enough, right?

Once I had the templates in positions that I liked and a bunch of white frames, I had to figure out what should go in those frames!  We already have one photo gallery wall, so I really wanted to avoid including photos here.  But I also wanted the wall to be meaningful and not just random art and things. So I brainstormed, and researched (Pinterest, google searches for "meaningful art,"), had epiphanies, and really thought about it for a few weeks.  And here's where we ended up:

I know you probably can't see all that's there, so let's go on a tour, shall we?

To start, I framed the onesies each boy wore on their first birthday.

And I also framed both boys' birth announcements.

In the above images, you can also catch glimpses of a couple other things.  I DIYed the Virginia chevron print.  It says "home" if you can't make it out, and yes, I purposely placed it around where Virginia Beach is geographically!  The yellow blog next to Levi's birth announcement is Chipper's paw print.  This is the second time I have attempted to get a paw print of our pup, but I think he's just too hairy because they always just look like a blob!  And the image with a whole bunch of words is actually the lyrics from Josh and my first dance song at our wedding ("Me and You" by Kenny Chesney).

As we continue, I also had the boys create a little "art" for the wall.

I used a photo of the beach (I don't know which beach) I had bought off Etsy about 5 years ago.

And finally I DIYed one more pieced: our family travel bucket list.  

To explain the list a bit, there are definitely some places on there that I have already been to that aren't checked off (but not with Josh) and even some places on there that Josh and I have been to together, but not with the boys.  But I purposely didn't check them because I hope to go back to those places one day...either with my husband, or boys, or both!  The ones that are checked I consider done...not that I would mind if we went back (especially St. Maarten or the Virgin Islands), but we've been there! 

So there it is!  Our newly expanded gallery wall!  And I must say, I am pretty much in love with it!  Not only does it fill the wall up so much better than the previous small scale version, it also filled with things that make me smile!