Mousetrap/Artrap

Although I wish I were this creative, I can't take credit for this idea.  I saw this project on a blog called Ella Claire Inspired where she turned mousetraps into cool vintage-looking clips for an artwork gallery wall.  Her tutorial is much better than mine, so check out the link above to see how she did it.  (She also has some other great ideas on her blog... so crafty!)

You saw a sneak-peek of the finished product in my previous post.  This project was super easy and didn't take long at all.  All you need are some mousetraps, spray paint, a pair of pliers, and some craft paint and you're pretty much set.

I took a 4 pack of mousetraps and removed the mouse-killing hardware with a pair of pliers, leaving only the spring-loaded clip at the bottom.

Then I spray-painted them with some oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

(The "Victor" impression is a lot less noticeable in person than it is in these photos.)

Then, I used some craft paint to paint numbers on each one.

I got some vintage coral prints offline and mounted them on some thicker craft paper to mount inside the clips.  By a stroke of luck, the print numbers actually match up with the numbers on the mousetraps.

Once the paint was dry, I had Daniel nail them to my door and then simply slid the artwork under the clips.

I think this would look better with larger prints or more of them.  Because my door was so large, the scale seems a bit off to me.  But these will work until I find the perfect size prints.

So easy and such a creative use for an everyday item!