Crayon Crazy

A little over a week ago, I went to Eastern Market in DC and fell in love with... well, I fell in love with everything. I'm lucky Eastern Market is about an hour away and not very easy to park around otherwise I could get into trouble.

But one thing in particular that I fell in love with what a photo that I thought would have been perfect for the kids play room. It was of a fresh pack of crayons, spiraled out in a circle with all the tips pointed to the center. The problem, it was $250 - that was the "sale" price. What was particularly annoying is that the expensive part was the frame, which I couldn't have cared less about, but the vendor wouldn't separate them.

So, I decided to create it myself.

And now - a disclaimer. I suck at photography. I know it, I accept it, I live with it. We don't have the best camera, I don't even know what to buy that would be an upgrade. I just don't have the energy.

I decided to give it a go anyway, and I'm really pleased with what I came up with. Since my camera isn't a super duper 27 mega-pixel thing, or whatever the latest technology is, I knew I wouldn't be able to take a very large single picture that would have enough presence. So I opted for 3 different photos.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

And here they are one by one:



My favorite view:

So I ended up with 3 photos, instead of 1, for a lot less money.

Crayons - Free, thank you Birthday Party goody bag
3 - 11x14 photo prints (that I cropped to 11x11 each) $36
3 Frames - $36 thanks to 40% off frames
Craft paper for faux mattes - free, already had it.
Total: $72 plus 2-3 hours to take, pick up, crop and hang the photos.

Edited to add: If anyone is interested in recreating this on their own, I have the original photographs that I'd be happy to send to you for you to print and do with whatever you want.