Making use of what I have--Cool project #1 from old baby crib parts

D and I have been married 14 years and in this house 10 of those.  We are fully into the Duct Tape years (which I will blog more about at another time).  

There are nicks in the paint, as well as holes in the walls from the baby gates.  Except for when M was a newborn and we hired someone to paint N and G's jointly shared bedroom, I have been the one to paint the rooms in the house.  It is cheap to paint if one does it herself and a super easy way to change the look of an entire room.  But right now, with the boys being the ages they are, I simply don't have the time to do it myself, nor do I have the energy to paint AND clean up the messes that the boys would make should I attempt to do so with them around.  Painting will have to wait a while.

But I am itching to make some small changes.  

Having recently taken down the drop-side crib M was sleeping in, I also have crib parts that are taking up space in the closet.  (We also have bits and pieces from N's crib which converted into her current full-size bed.)

The desire to make changes coupled with an increasing wish to reuse what we have and not purchase more stuff took me to the Internet for inspiration.

This is what I started with......the metal spring part of the crib on which the mattress rests.

I bought some of this...very flexible vinyl from Hancock's Fabrics.  Maybe $5 worth from the scrap bin.

With the help of a glue gun, fabric scissors to cut the vinyl into strips and some tiny clothespins (all of which I already had around the house), I made this:

Now I have a place to put some of my all-time favorite pics of the kids since I only keep their most current pictures in frames on the walls.  I figure if I get really inspired I can change it for the holidays--put only Halloween pics up in October, only Christmas pics up in December, and only Easter pics up in the spring.  I can relive all the fun of past years seeing the kids as they've grown and changed.  

What a perfect way to use something from their babyhoods throughout their lives.