you are the best thing.

As I mentioned in the commencement of this blog and throughout, John and I are huge Ray LaMontagne fans. We have seen him in concert three times since we started dating (every time he comes to town or comes in a 300 mile radius of it). Let's take it a step further: I am an official "fan club" member (no, I am not embarrassed to admit that). A step even further: I emailed his manager and asked if we could book him for our wedding. Surprisingly, he emailed me back. Not surprisingly, they declined my offer. A step even further than further: the fact that the band we did choose for our wedding had a few Ray tunes on their song list was a deciding factor in booking them. I'm not crazy, I promise. Anyway, we settled by dancing our first dance as man and wife to "You are the Best Thing." 

I knew that I wanted to incorporate our song into John's anniversary gift, so what better way to do that than with the sheet music to our song! 

The first step was to find and purchase the sheet music. I decided to buy a downloadable version and put our new, handy-dandy printer to good use. Check. Embarrassingly, I ended up printing it onto resumé  paper that I have had since my fleeting days of college. My motto: work with what you've got. Check.

While browsing around the internet for DIY projects involving sheet music I came across some great ideas:

Due to the space in the condo, or lack thereof, I narrowed it down to either wrapping several books with it or framing each page.

After much deliberation, I decided to go with the option that would make more of a statement...frames. I had a feeling that the books would get lost in the mix. The frames are something that we can view daily and are a good conversation piece. Check.

I ordered five simple 11x14 white frames and matting from Amazon. Check. Within a few days they arrived at our doorstep. 

Here are the details of the project from start to finish:

 ...and the finished product!

I love them. John loved them. And now I can't wait to hang them!