Instant Art Gallery

In an effort to get organized this summer, I was looking for a pretty but practical way to display kid's art, photos and other paper treasures.  The other day, I made some upgraded hooks and shared them with you in the last post...I decided to make a few more and came up with this...

Behold the instant art gallery, I made it using things around the house already (hooray for free!), and it was fun and really fast to make.  Now instead of stashing that precious artwork away, it can be proudly displayed and switched around often.

You could do this in a child's room or playroom, but it could most definitely be used by the grown-ups too in an office or as part of your home's mail station area.  Be sure to keep out of reach of very small kids, as the long string and clothespins could be a potential danger.

To make an instant art gallery you'll need:

• Worsted weight yarn in colors of your choice
• J (6.0 mm) hook
• 2 hooks (I used those plastic easy to remove kind)
• Wooden clothes pins (three are shown here, but the more the merrier)
• Hot glue gun

Begin by crocheting the flowers and leaves...a rose and a leaf for each hook, and one leaf for each clothespin.

Click here for rose instructions...
Click here for stemless leaf instructions...

Now onto the chain part...

You'll want the chain to have a loop at either end for hanging as shown in the photo below.  Click here to learn how to make a sturdy hanging loop...

Next, make a chain as long as you like for your gallery (note: crochet chains are very stretchy and with the weight of things hung on it it will droop a little.  I ended up pulling a few chains out to make mine a little shorter because it was originally too saggy.)

Variation: If you have lots of things to hang, try making two chains of different lengths for a two-tiered display.

Once all of the crocheted components are completed, weave in all ends.

Next, hot glue a flower and leaf to each hook, and then hot glue a leaf to each clothespin.  Let completely cool and dry before using.

Last, attach the hooks to the wall.  Be sure to follow manufacturer's instructions, I had to wait one hour before hanging to allow the adhesive to form a strong bond to the wall.  Hang the chain on the hooks and begin displaying away!  The gallery shown has plain paper in the photos, but ours is now bursting with beautiful art...so much fun!