Twenty bucks + stacks of Vanity Fair magazines = New Faux Headboard/Artwork!

I've never had a headboard on my bed, and I hate that look... I feel like the bed looks unfinished, like you're staying there temporarily, or like you're in a college dorm. Well, yesterday, since I have a quilt that has to be finished in four weeks and I'm nowhere near close, I decided to ignore that project altogether and finally make something that, although not a headboard, would give the illusion of being a part of the bed, and finishing the look.

I saw a really cool project done with old magazines on the internerd a while back (it may have even been on Craftster?), so I took my inspiration from that. Unfortunately I can't remember where I saw the project that inspired this one... if anyone knows who it was, please let me know as I would love to credit the artist with the original idea! (EDIT: Patricia Zapata had the idea originally! Check out her awesome work: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/01/create_junk_mail_art_craft_vid.html)

I went to Michaels, got these awesome $8 frames (although if you get a really nice cashier, she'll let you buy one at a time and use the 50%-off-one-item coupon three times). I also got three large sheets of textured white paper for a couple of bucks each. I mixed in an Exacto knife, some hand-drawn stencils, a handful of old Vanity Fair magazines, so for about $20 and eight hours of The Golden Girls, I got these!

I made them by tearing out sheets from the magazines that were mostly purple, brown, and green. I sliced them into strips and glued them onto a flat sheet of bristol board, alternating them with strips of plain text. Then I cut the floral design into the textured paper. The prints are not matted, but I cut the edges of the flowers flat so that they would look like they were matted. Then I just taped the board with the strips on it to the underside of the stenciled paper and popped them into the frame.

I believe this brown one is very similar to the original design I saw online, although I believe the strips were multi-coloured in that one, and the flower a bit different:

I'm least excited about this green one... I feel like it doesn't quite fit in because it's not full enough, but was too tired of Exacto-ing to go back and re-do it. I wonder if I tried putting in a couple of leaves? Or would it just look crowded...

Purple hibiscus:

Here is a close-up. I just noticed that there are at least two instances of the word "sex" in this one, which I hope brings good luck to my bed. One of them has a question mark on the end, though... that might not bode well.

I'm so excited that I actually managed to finish these, and even hang them! (It's absolutely true that I am most productive when I have a task that needs doing, but unfortunately what's produced is never related to the task that needs doing.) Now I need to go pick up eight thousand tiny bits of Vanity Fair in my living room.