cheap framed monogram

Okay, I know it's been a few weeks since my last post.  Life does seem to get in the way sometimes, but hopefully this will make up for my absence!

For over a year, Hobby Lobby had some pretty metal letters hanging up that I loved, but the price tag wasn't as good.  Even with a 40% off coupon, they seemed overpriced to me.  Sometime this year these letters were moved to clearance, but I never really noticed an "I" being among them since there was SO much other stuff in those aisles.

Then a few weeks ago, I spotted one of these letters.  And it just happens to be the first letter of our last name.

What?!  This was in clearance the whole time and I never saw it?  I was happy to see it wasn't too scratched up from being moved around so much.  The best part was the price though.

Yep.  $1.20.  And since that was like the sixth or seventh clearance sticker on there, it seems that it was a good thing that I didn't see it before now.  The original clearance sticker said this:

I think we're looking at $8.50 here.  As the original "clearance" price.  Craziness.  Under two bucks is much more my speed, and it was just so gratifying to hand the clerk two dollars rather than swiping the debit card!

Anyway, I thought the letter looked a little plain on its own, but I didn't want to spray-paint it or anything since I really liked the look of the metal.  So I pulled a large frame out my stash and spray-painted that instead.  I figured hanging the frame around the initial would make it pop a little.  I'm so glad I had this "Lagoon" color leftover from my keyholder.  LOVE IT.

So the total for this project: $1.20 plus tax, since I already had the spray paint and the frame was free from my mom.  Not too shabby.

I'm thinking I'll hang it in my mudroom since that lagoon color matches other stuff in there.  There's still a big blank wall to the right as you walk in, so I might try to do a frame collage there, with this monogram being in the center.  I'm certainly not at a loss for frames right now, it's just a matter of spray-painting them to match and figuring out a layout!  Stay tuned.  :o)

Linking up with Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!