You can make whatever configuration you like. Debbie laid the trays/drawers out on her studio floor to find the right shape for our wall. The real key was that Deb took a picture of each configuration so we both see (via email) all choices at the same time and then be able to recreate the one we liked later.
![]() |
The winner...the only thing we changed is removing the brown Letterblock tray and adding a black one in its place. |
We used -
Now the trays move to my house in California (the configuration is much too big to be mailed or fit in a suitcase from Debs) where my husband sanded the edges of the trays for gluing. We made a pencil mark where the trays meet so he only had to sand the joining edges.
He started with the two center trays, which were the brown large Shadowbox tray and the black 4 x 6 photo tray...he just used plain old wood glue between the trays and then clamped them together for about 30 minutes before adding more trays to the configuration. NOTE: Remember to cover your work surface with some plastic or newspaper. My husband was gluing on the kitchen island so the granite need to be protected with some old newspaper.
Once the clamps are on, use a wet paper towel to clean up any glue that squeezes out along the edges. Remember to clean up both the front and the back of the piece. My husband had a little helper so he could hold the piece up and she could wipe away the glue.If you have enough clamps you could add more trays, as shown below, before the first set is dry.
So once it was glued together I started to fill all the spaces with all the pieces of paper Deb had cut and then added items she had sent. I let it sit for a few days while I gathered things here at the house and changed some things and added others to get it to it final state that was used in the show. Here are some pictures that show the highlights of the piece.
Deb had the metal letters in her stash as well as the red thread and string. She made the padded backing by covering foam core with burlap. |
![]() |
Backing - Lille paper, old frame, vintage book and American flag. "Life is Good" is part of the new Family ATC kit... I just rounded the corners of the card and clamped the whole thing right to the drawer with a big bulldog clip. |
![]() |
Using a piece of a screen over the opening let me add loose buttons to the tray. I just nailed it right to the wood with random size nails. |
paper from the Lille collection and again, a card from the ATC Family kit. |
![]() |
Some old rubber stamp that are part of a collection I keep in a bowl on the coffee table. |
![]() |
Wood type numbers and a large ephemera card from this set. |
![]() |
All the empty spots were filled with our new glass bottles at the show. |
Well, we hope you liked the Lille display...a lot of work but well worth it. I would venture to guess there were more photographs taken of this wall piece than anything else in the booth (with Debs rain of tickets taking a close second).
We'll be back on Wed with some Valentine Fun.