BOY'S GALLERY WALL AND SOUVENIR PATCH ARTWORK

We are entering the home stretch in finishing up Caleb's room, finally!  It's only been over a year since I first started piecing some new things together.  After today, I have one more project to share with you for the room and then I'll be ready for the complete room reveal.

With the arrangement of his room, we only have one full wall for hanging artwork, so it was the perfect candidate for a gallery wall.  I gathered some frames and favorite photos and started putting it all together.

Caleb and I really liked the idea from Boxy Colonial to photograph some of his favorite things for artwork.  So, we used a favorite Nascar, his personalized Louisville Slugger, and a Halo set-up for a few pieces on the wall.  I photographed them with a white background and had enlargements printed off for a few dollars each.

I also added in some favorite photos and the washi tape accented mats that I made a few weeks ago.  The hammer is a sentimental gift from a friend of our family that reminds him to work hard.

This is my very favorite thing...

Several years ago he went to a Men's Retreat away from home with my husband.  When he got home this had been in his pocket, just incase he got lost.  And unconscious apparently, unable to tell anyone who he belonged to.  :)

His favorite thing on the wall is this Souvenir Patch Display that we made.  Souvenir penny presses have become our favorite means of picking up mementos on trips, but Caleb is beginning to collect patches here and there as well and we wanted to be able to display them.

I started with a thrifted frame.  Anyone else remember this one?  We actually had one that I think we received as a wedding gift that hung in our home for years.  It's long gone, though, and I came across this one with the perfect measurements while looking for a frame.

I removed the glass, painted the frame, and actually just covered the matboard and artwork with fabric and hot glue, then used a few more drops of hot glue to secure it back in the frame.  Then he got to work arranging them how he wanted them.  We left some empty spaces so we could add to the collection over time.

With most of the patches, I used a tiny drop of hot glue on the back of the patch to attach it to the fabric.  It's enough to hold it in place but if we ever want to remove them it should peel off easily.

Caleb is crazy about anything to do with the military, and his soldier uncle and cousin made his day by picking up a few military patches for him.  They had velcro on the back, so I glued the mate onto the fabric so he can take those off and put them back on.

With one more project crossed off the list for this room, we're getting really close to being finished!

**Edited...  I updated the arrangement of the gallery wall a little as I completed the room.  You can see the finished room here!