My Western Wallhanging

Howdy!

For a long time I have dreamed of having a house with one bare wood wall that I was going to decorate with our western and cowboy memorabilia. Well, who knows how long I would have to keep dreaming so I decided this is what I'll do. Make a wallhanging which can be moved wherever we move... I had started collecting different items from here and there while cleaning house lately, and when FJI said her next theme would be western/farm, that was all the push I needed to finally start my project. I got busy last week, and here is the result.

 I started with raiding hubby's parents' farm for old wood. I found enough old stuff to make the perfect background. When I fell in love with Daniel, he was a cowboy on that farm. That is my first impression of him, so in my eyes, he is still my cowboy, even though he is more engineer now than cowboy. We used to do a lot of riding and cowboying way before any children came into the big picture. It felt good to put together all the cowboy items from years past, and Daniel was quite pleased and surprised when I revealed the finished project to him. I kept it somewhat secretive from him. When he saw it, he understood what all that old wood was for! And now he likes old wood too... :)

 When I started out, I did not have the whole picture in my mind, but I realized as I was arranging the pieces on the boards, I soon got an idea for what 'goes'. 

I wasn't sure which photo to put in the middle, so I tried with two different ones... We did not have a western wedding; only took western style photos before the wedding. I am always glad we did. Those are our wedding hats.

 I just had to throw in this little piece with the cute saying.

 Photos of our children.

The horseshoes used are ones that used to be on Rose, our special horse in the US. (Oh and I realized I made that horse story part 1 and have yet to post part 2!)

 These cutest little cowgirl boots where my daughter's when she was 2. So cute, I can't part with them!

 ...more wedding memories....

 cousins

 This piece of wood is a dried cactus that comes all the way from Arizona. I thought it fit in so well, especially since we both love the American West.

 

 A hilarious card Daniel's brother gave us when we were married a little while... ;) Timothy thought it was him...

 Photos of Daniel's bygone cowboy bachelor days...the pockets come from his used wranglers. He has worn through many a pair.

 His old belt buckle...

The gun is just an air rifle.

The wallhanging hangs in our bedroom. Here in Belize the houses usually have lots of window space, so it is hard to fit anything big into the bare wall space.

So long, cowgirls!

Linking to parties:
Funky Junk Interiors
The Shabby Nest