Update!!! I found an easier way to do this!
Does your husband have huge collections of stuff that are generally unacceptable as art? Has he been collecting these objects for over ten years? Does he love going to events, such as sports games, concerts, and movies, and even have season passes to his alma mater?
What can you do with such collections, you ask? Look no further!!! I am here to show you how to make a collection of ticket stubs into tasteful decor for your home.
{All in jest - I love you Tommy! But seriously, there's a widespread lack of ideas for displaying collections}
I have yet to figure out his shot glass collection, but I have figured out the ticket stubs!
I started with a 20" square IKEA Ribba frame in black. Their black and white frames in this size are kind of like shallow shadow boxes, and leave about an inch between the glass and the mat.
Tommy helped me cut a slit in one side of the frame - we drilled holes, then connected them using the jigsaw. I wanted to do a plunge cut with the circular saw, but it seemed really unsafe, so we passed. Be VERY CAREFUL with this part, and get a partner to help you hold everything!
Cutting the slit messed up the frame a bit, so I touched it up with black acrylic craft paint. The finish isn't the same, but it's going on the top of a frame, and we're short, so it's not like we'll see it anyways.
There's a square insert for the IKEA Ribba frame, and it was blocking my fresh-cut slit. I pulled off one of the sides, and put the U-shaped piece back in. They're stapled together, it was really easy to just pull it apart.
Lucky for me, I had a large 2006 Final Four flag that I taped to the mat to cover the hole. In other instances, I bet a fresh piece of mat board or a poster or something would also work.
If you just throw all the tickets through the hole, they tend to just land on their sides and bunch up at the bottom - not so pretty. Instead, I taped a bunch to the mat to create a pretty background. Don't do this for all of them - save a few.
Then I put the frame back together like normal.
Once I had it hung, I inserted the remainder of my tickets. Again, they'll bunch up at the bottom, so instead of putting them in one at a time, I would tape two or three together at odd angles, then insert that whole bunch. That way they look a lot more interesting at the bottom of the frame.
So that's it! The whole project took about an hour of labor, but spread out over time since I had to wait for paint to dry. I spent $20 on the frame, and I already had the paint. All those events on the other hand....let's just call them priceless.
I love that now we can see all these ticket stubs and remember all the fun events we've been to! I also love that they're all corralled in a 20" x 20" space - they're fun, but not too juvenile.
