One thing I love to do when I travel is to buy little handmade figurines of sorts that are unique to the country I am in. Whenever I go to Mexico, I see all types of brightly painted animals, suns, moons and angels made of wood that are so beautiful. I have been collecting these cultural souvenirs for a while now and after moving into my apartment a couple years ago, I decided it was time to properly display them. First, I picked a focal wall that grabs your attention right when walking into my apartment. This happens to be my dining room wall. Next was to add a splash of color that would be appropriate to my Mexican-themed wall. I picked this fabulous reddish-orange terracotta. I hung a hand-me-down Frida Khalo print that was already framed and used this as the center piece. I found these great black square shelves at Bed, Bath and Beyond that would be perfect for each collectible to have it's own "stage." I arranged the square shelves so there where three on each side of the print and positioned the different squares to create balance.
Then I selected which collectible would fit best in each square. I had to hang a couple of the items in the box (because they couldn't stand on their own) so they look like they are floating in the middle. I did this by using a tiny metal ring hook that screws into the shelf and hung it with fishing wire (all found at my local hardware store).
I love this wall and now I get so many compliments of my one-of-a-kind mementos.
-Mistywww.lapistolera.etsy.com
