Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Using Personal Keys To Make Shadowbox Art

Last week during the blogiversary madness, there were requests for more fast & *almost* free projects – especially the ones that renters and homeowners alike can whip out in under an hour. So here’s an under $10 project that I took ten minutes, tops.

Key Family Reveal

Do you get the hidden meaning behind the keys? Look a little closer. See how there’s one tall key, one medium key, and two small keys (one of which is horizontal while one’s vertical)? Well, that’s our little key family. Haha. Burger’s the horizontal guy.

When I saw a bowl of keys for $2 at an antique store on the way home from Granny’s, I stared at them for a while, literally thinking “what can I do with these?” When I saw some big ones and some small ones, it came to me. Why not get a daddy key, a momma key, a Clara key, and a Burger key? So eight bucks later I had my little key “muses” at home on my desk in a pile. It took me a few weeks to get to the craft store to grab some nice thick wood-grain-ish paper (I ended up finding it Michaels for 60 cents), which I decided would make a fun natural background for my rustic little old keys. So I got it home and cut it down to fit into the Ikea frame that I already had on hand.

Keys1

Then I just taped the paper in place behind the mat (which came with the frame).

Keys2

Next I laid out the keys in height order, and tipped the Burger key over since that’s more like his shape. After snickering for a minute at my little key family (yeah, I’m that ridiculous) I grabbed some Gorilla Glue and put a few dollops on the back of each key and pressed them down into the paper so they’d dry in that layout. You might want to do this on top of cardboard or a dropcloth, just in case the glue bleeds through the paper (ya don’t want to glue everything to the table/counter).

Keys3

Oh and to anyone at home trying to glue something slightly heavy like a metal key to something, the key is to get thick enough paper – or if you have thin paper, try backing it with something thicker (like gluing it to cardboard or card stock) to stabilize it so it’ll hold those metal keys without buckling or sagging. Thankfully our paper was nice and thick- sort of like card stock.

Ta-daaa. The fun part about this was that it was so quick and easy that if we should ever add another little one (pooch or human) to the pack, I can always pop these off of the paper, choose a new background in any print or pattern, and grab a few more old keys at a thrift or antique store to glue on.

Key Detail2

Oh and you can kind of tell from the picture, but there’s still glass in the frame. I wondered if the keys would be too thick for the glass to work (in which case I just would have used the frame without the glass, so they would be 3-D/exposed in the front) but I just tried securing the back of the frame with the glass in there and it latched, so it’s nice to know that I won’t have dust collecting on the keys. But if you have a more shallow frame that doesn’t allow the glass to remain once you add the thickness of the keys, getting a shadow box or just removing the glass is always an option.

As for where we hung it, the wall in the laundry room right next to the door that we go in and out of everyday seemed like a nice spot since that’s where we have a few favorite personal/family pics along with other randomly meaningful items…

Key Art Grouping

… like an iron bee hook that reminds us of the bees on our wedding invites and a metal 7, which is a nod to our wedding date (we actually picked that up at a local outlet, The Decorating Outlet, this weekend and I hung it when I hammered in my key art).

  Key Art Wide After

What are you guys popping into frames lately? Don’t you love that you can grab cool textured paper like the wood grain stuff that we used? I’m a happy camper in that paper aisle, I’m telling ya. Do any of you have old skeleton keys that actually work in a door or two in your home? That has always been a dream of mine. Well, that and living in the paper aisle…

Comments

  1. Ginny @ goofymonkeys says

    The only thing I’ve framed lately is an homage to a Van Gogh that my daughter did at preschool last spring. I love including kid art in the house decor, so we’ll keep it :)

    I love the keys though. I will have to pop into antique stores more often to find these little things.

    Reply

  2. Blake says

    I love using scrap book paper for all kinds of crafts! We have a scrapbook clearance store in Destin, FL and EVERYTHING is always half off! You can score some awesome deals on all kinds of things for projects like these!

    Reply

  3. Beth says

    My local library announced that you’re some of the authors that will be here later this month – so excited! (I won’t give the city since you haven’t posted your tour dates here.) I will definitely be popping in!

    Reply

  4. Lynn @ Our Useful Hands says

    It’s a rainy on and off kind of day. The office is finally painted. Time to spray paint, hang, and decorate the walls. At least for a mock up. I have to still lay the rest of the flooring down so I am just doing this art positioning today just to take it down and put it back up again after all the furniture is placed just to get a feel for the placement. This idea is lovely of key family art. It looks really nice on the wall. Nice conversation piece too.

    My best, Lynn

    Reply

  5. Courtney Madden says

    Our first house came with a huge built-in cabinet that we just didn’t like (it was faux built-in). So we ended up removing it, but we kept the old-fashioned keys as a memento. I framed them with some burlap behind and they now sit on our good built-ins! Love this idea!

    Reply

  6. Karen Q. says

    Too cute!! I love the key family- so adorable with the burger key! That paper is awesome! Such a fun and creative idea! I just love your blog- it seriously brightens up my day! :)
    I did just recently complete a frame project-
    My hubby and I just celebrated our first anniversary, wow a year flies by. We thought it would be fun to keep with the traditional anniversary gifts and put our own twist on it. So for his gift this year I framed photo booth strips I made on Shutterfly of things we did as our first year as Mr. and Mrs.- Trips we went on, celebrations, Holidays and just everyday memories like the time we got a bat in our basement and when we played on the jungle gym at the park. On our honeymoon last year we found a photo booth and took fun pictures so I thought this would be a cute play on that and keep with the paper tradition. :)

    Reply

  7. Becky says

    I love this project!!! I am mildly (read: completely) obsessed with old keys. What a creative way to use these treasures!

    Reply

  11. Jenny G. says

    I love this! Yay for bringing back quick, easy, and cheap projects. =)

    I’ve been having my own little “dude, get on that already” over here, and it involved frames. I (finally) hung up artwork in my 5 month old daughter’s nursery! We have some Etsy art, but I also wanted to frame some of my old 4-H horse show ribbons. Alas, they’re too thick for my big Ikea frame. I had to settle for framing a cute picture of her. =). Perhaps a shadow box is in order for the ribbons though, they’d look so great in there!

    Reply

  12. Lindsay says

    I made a black and grey framed keys and mirrors collage when we first moved into our home and did the same thing. I bought paper at michaels in different patterns and framed all the keys at different angles! I like how the wood turned out with your family though :-) I grew up in a Victorian style house that had a working skeleton key for each room. I have always been obsessed with old keys!! Someday I’ll have an old Victorian house again, with 10″ baseboards of the original wood and I can make it my own :-) But for now I’ll stick with my very typical brick colonial in NOVA.

    Reply

  14. Kelly says

    Cute project!

    My parents’ house’s front door has a skeleton key. They only use the side door and it is always a struggle to get the front door open for the wayward delivery guy.

    Our house also came with a skeleton key. I’m not sure what door it opens and am holding out hope for secret passage way!

    Reply

  15. Clare says

    I LOVE this idea. I may have to borrow, though, our horizontal one would be for our fish, Ramone. My maiden name was Key so this would be just perfect and would make a great gift for my mom and dad who still sport the name.

    Reply

  16. Beth A. says

    Love this idea — so cute.
    I’ve been thinking about pulling a bunch of art/frames that are stored in my garage and creating some kind of art wall in our hallway. This has given me the extra motivation to start on that project. Not key related, I know. But seeing your mini gallery in the laundry room and reading others comments has inspired me to get going!! This does not have to be complicated, right?

    Reply

  21. how2home says

    What a cute little addition to the wall! I love keys as well, they are such beautiful decor pieces for home/wedding/parties etc. We didn’t add any new frames lately on our wal but we did make a little DIY tutorial on how to make your own solid gold/metallic vases for my grandma’s birthday. Can’t wait to use them for her birthday (how2home.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/how-to-d-i-y-gold-vases/)

    Reply

  22. Heather Petersen says

    This is adorable! I love this for a housewarming gift or to welcome a new baby into a family. So sweet and pretty too.

    Reply

  24. Rebecca says

    Okay, love the keys, but I’m going completely OT. We just had mud put on over some drywall (we removed a load-bearing wall, added a header, sealed off an interior hallway door, etc.) and the mudding guy suggested we prime it pretty quickly. We haven’t decided on paint colors for these rooms yet, so what’s the best way to prime these areas without having to do the whole rooms in the process? Thanks in advance!! My philosophy is “When in doubt, check Young House Love.” :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would just use a roller and sort of feather the primer out around the areas that were mudded (so they’re completely covered but you don’t have to do the whole room). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  25. Holly says

    My husband and I lived in New Zealand for a study abroad for a few months, and our key to our home was a skeleton key! It made me so happy every time I came home to lock or unlock the door. That key definitely has a special place in my heart. AND it is as fun as you would hope to use one! Though probably not super safe in today’s world…especially if you have a security system haha – the wind would rattle the door with it’s little hinge and probably set the alarm off every day, but at least you’d be happy every time you opened your door :)

    Reply

  27. Mekenzie @ Interiors by Kenz says

    What a fun and fast project. I love the little key family :) It’s adorbs. After months of renovating our basement family room, we are finally ready to accessorize! (The best part!) Our style for that room is rustic/industrial/antique so keys would make a perfect touch.

    Thanks for sharing this idea! Cheers!
    -Kenz

    Reply

  28. Briel K. says

    I love this. Such a cute idea! I LOVE how old keys like that look. Sometimes I wish keys were still like that nowadays but then I guess we wouldn’t find them so special probably. :)

    Reply

  29. Katharine says

    Love the wall arrangement! And the “sideways Burger key” is awesome! Very clever, Sherry. Very clever. :)

    Reply

  30. Joanna Banana says

    My husband is a locksmith. We have so many keys hanging around the house. He estimates over 30,000 in the basement (God bless me). Our wedding was a key theme. We are intense about keys around here! I like this shadow box idea.

    Reply

  31. Kyla says

    I love this! We used skeleton keys as escort cards at our wedding, and used the smaller ones for the kids, so we have quite a few extras! I adore what you did to represent Burger… we have a baby and five cats so we would need a looooong piece of paper! Thank you so much for sharing, I love this!

    Reply

  32. AnnMarie says

    I looove this! I have a thing for key art and totally copied your idea with the 4 keys in a square frame. Hope ya don’t mind ;-)

    Reply

  33. Rox says

    I have 3 sweet little crochet-like, doily-like baby bibs that my grandmother and great-grandmother made. I’ve only framed one, but intend to frame the other two as well. I cut the mat myself, carefully placed a few key hand stitches from the bib to the mat board to hold the bib upright, then stapled the mat to the outside of the back frame creating a little shadow box effect. Love it!

    Reply

  34. Anna says

    So sweet! The Burger key it’s a clever detail; it looks like a cute, but a little stubborn, pooch. Perhaps it’s because the size of the “head”.

    ????? WOOF!

    Reply

  35. Suzy B says

    Clever idea!!!!!Hey, I’m happy to say I am one of your 3 percenters that reads your blog! HA…kind of surprised by that but happy to be part of the YHL pie chart!
    Love gorilla glue & the Burger key.

    Reply

  36. Jen says

    I have a skeleton key that has been sitting in the fruit bowl in my kitchen for months now and I can’t figure out what it unlocks. I have a small pantry that should have one so that was the first guess but it’s too big and a bedroom closet is missing one but that’S not it either! Over the summer a freind used antique skeleton keys as wedding place cards so I decided that I will frame the mystery key together with the wedding favor key if I can’t find its lock before moving out of my apartment. Now you gave me a great idea for how to arrance the keys in this small family of 2!

    Reply

  37. Molly says

    For a split second I thought the fourth key was an announcement…and came right here to the comments to see if anyone thought the same thing! At least I got a sneak peek of how excited I’ll be when you guys announce you’re expecting again!

    Reply

  38. Tanya from Dans le Townhouse says

    I am a HUGE fan of the fast and almost free projects. And the Burger key is too cute!

    I (with the help of my Handy Hubby who I roped into helping me) just made a fun necklace from a broken brooch and the whole project cost about 25 CENTS and took about five minutes. And it’s not even cheating to add this to my to-do list and triumphantly cross it off ;)

    http://dans-le-townhouse.blogspot.hu/2012/10/broken-brooch-to-striking-necklace-diy.html

    Reply

  41. Olivia says

    So sweet! I’ve been collecting as many keys as I can from our various apartments and planning to display them nicely once we find a permanent home. Love the way this turned out, and the symbolism!

    Reply

  42. Annie says

    I have an old skeleton key that opens a huge hutch my Grandmother got as a Christmas gift in the 30’s. I’m not in posession of the hutch, sadly, but I do wear the key as a necklace sometimes or it sits in a jewelry box. I love the idea of displaying it somehow but I couldnt forgive myself if I ruined it with glue… Other suggestions?

    Reply

  44. Lori says

    Love this!!!! We have some windchimes that are skeleton keys that come out at halloween :).

    We have a similar frame like this, but we used shells from our first family trip to the beach. My hubby walked to the water and looked down and saw three shells next to each other…the daddy, the mommy and the baby shell. I glued those onto a piece of burlap and framed it. Did the same thing with a small sprig from our first real christmas tree as a family. They are all still neatly stacked up waiting to be hung (::for six months now::). Your frame hallway inspired me, just need the time and motivation now ;)

    Reply

  45. Nicole S. says

    Just yesterday I framed a very special item. Earlier this year my husband and I and two friends shared a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne (something we’ve been talking about doing for years!) So I thought the cork would make a nice keepsake, so I also hit up Michaels (Bazzil Basics card stock is 40% off right now!) and picked up a nice teal for the background. Then I popped it into the smaller shadow box frame from Ikea. http://instagram.com/p/QQpwRPkIq2/

    Reply

  46. Louise says

    Sherry, I am so going to copy that idea! hmmm,I hope I can get the same effect paper over here – i’ll have to go on a mission to our local Hobbycraft store :) I love an excuse to raid that place!
    by the way – how lucky are all the skeleton key people?! if I had some of those, I honestly don’t think I could resist the urge to put them on a chain hanging from my belt and pretend I’m the housekeeper in Downton Abbey ha! (yup, i’m a strange one lol!)

    Reply

  48. Adrienne says

    Love that so much! I saw an outlet online that sells cheap keys, I might have to consider doing on of these. (Especially since our house is basically a yhl house already- thanks for all your tutorials!)

    Question for you- we have a silver spoon we are trying to hang in a frame likr this. We tried some extra duty double stick tape, but the spoon fell. Do you think that glue is so good that it would ruin the spoon or would it come off? Thanks!!!

    Reply

  49. Karen J says

    Totally, totally off topic but is Bower Power down?? I wanted to check on the kitchen progress but all I’m getting is “database error”.

    Reply

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