License Plate Frames Reimagined
License plates. Most folks are content with the random state-assigned number etched onto the plate. (A bit Orwell-esque, wouldn’t you say?) And, true, some obsessives pay the bucks to keep their special plate name and adorn it with a statement-piece frame. Yet, even if you are not a license plate fetishist, you can do a myriad of creative, interesting things with license plate frame covers.
Remember it’s a frame. It’s intended to enhance something else. The obvious, banal choice would be to stick one of those saccharine, filtered family photos you have on a sturdy backing and adhere the frame. Add a hook or a twig to help it hang or stand, respectively, and then voila! Well, boring. To alleviate boredom, check out Advance Auto Parts’ selection.
Take a sacred, transcendental odyssey back to your elementary school days of craft time. Recall those shadow boxes you had to assemble about a subject you hated? It’s time to rekindle your love for the shadow box. Attach the plate frame cover to an appropriately-sized box and then orchestrate the scene of your deepest longings. Need a cast of characters to flesh it out? Steal your kid’s fast food meal toys or visit a thrift store to populate and furnish your shadow box. 4 Wheel Parts has great automotive supplies, but won’t be able to be the go-to place for a plastic cartoon character.
Take a break from your work hell and do a mixed-media project framed by those garish Goth-inspired plate frames. Need a happier project? The blingy ones could be a great to frame your impish daughter’s neophyte art endeavors in. No pink unicorn included. Sorry. Gather a bunch of her inspired, cave-woman like scribblings and when she’s a teen you can embarrass her by mounting them on the wall of the family room, and showing her new boyfriend on their first date. Make sure your future son-in-law has some auto parts knowledge. Test out what he knows by visiting the Auto Parts Warehouse site.
Uber-adventurous? Avant-garde to the max? Affix a license plate frame of your choice to the wall. Paint in inspirational or arcane sayings, or you can decoupage them in, or just paint in a symbol from a strange archeological tome and perhaps mix in some sketchy vintage tattoo art. It will really creep out your in-laws, which is what’s most important anyway! It was Simon and Garfunkel who sang that “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”. Well, guess what? Now the words of the prophets are in your den. Let the 4 Wheel Drive site inspire some deep thoughts.
That trite saying of “changing your frame of mind” does have ring of truth to it when you actually start playing with frames. See what comes up for you when you take that license plate frame away from the car and put it somewhere in your life that needs re-framing.