Secrets of parenthood

There are a few things about parenthood that people don't usually talk about.

You might not fall in love with your baby right away.

Your relationship with your spouse will probably change, and maybe not for the better at first.

You won't forget pre-baby life. You may even remember it fondly.

Sometimes, you won't like your baby.

Sometimes, you'll wonder if it was worth it.

But even if you have doubts about whether you'll like parenting, you will love your child more than anything. And it will all fall into place from there. One day at a time.

Wall art from a collection

This was such a simple project, but I've gotten so many compliments on it that I thought I'd post it.

We all have a collection of something. No matter when or how it started, it probably means more and more to you as it grows.

For several years, I've had a collection of programs from musicals, plays, and operas that I've seen. This collection has been living in a shoe box for several years.

(Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the process, but I'm sure you can imagine how I did this just by looking.)

Anyway, now that I have lots of empty walls to fill, I thought I'd do something with these. The programs were all the same format, slightly larger than 5x7. So, I picked 18 of my favourite, and cropped the covers to 5x7.

I arranged them in 3 rows of 6 pictures = 3x7in down and 6x5in across (or 21x30 in total in case you forgot your multiplication tables :) ) I taped these together at the back.

Then, I found a 24x36in poster frame from Michael's that was slightly bigger. It even came with a backing poster that had black borders, so I cheated and used that as a makeshift mat. I stuck the whole thing in the centre of the mat and popped it into the poster frame.

What I love about it is that it's a conversation starter. When people come over, they ask about such-and-such show that they see pictured in the frame, and that often starts a conversation about theatre, which I obviously love.

There you have it! If you have a collection that's sitting in a shoebox, go dig it up and show it off!