Monopoly Anyone???

***Note: January 3rd, 2010 I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch - Metamorphosis Monday
Be sure to go check out all the other "shares".

I didn't take a photo of the Monopoly board before I transformed it, but who hasn't played Monopoly???


So last January. No, the January before that. January 2008. The scrapbooking girls and I went on retreat and this was my project. I was inspired by an article I saw in Somerset Studio. I just took it to another level.

The SCHIEFER family board.

BITS....

PIECES...

Community Chest Cards.

Chance Cards.

As the other girls all scrapped 50 plus pages, road trip books and greeting cards, I spent the entire time working in miniature. Lots of scraps, left-over supplies, assorted embellishments, collected ephemera, mod podge, tissue paper, ink, paint, dice, bingo markers, wooden ruler, Scrabble tiles, old keys, cork, puzzle pieces, etc...even some of the other girls' garbage. Yes, I admit it. I dug some of their scraps out of their trash cans! GARBAGE DIGGER! Just goes to show, one woman's trash is another woman's treasure.

I began with a brand new Monopoly game board. Crisp and clean. Covered it with crinkled up white tissue paper and mod podge. Once dry, I distressed it with yellow paint - later, I distressed it again by dry-brushing it with brown ink.

Using our family as the subject matter, I just began to create space upon space. To keep the nuance of the "game", not all the spaces are covered fully. They are left lightly exposed. Look close. You can still see Monopoly, Income Tax, Water Works, Jail bird, the Go arrow, the Parking (free parking) and Electric Company.

I began the GO space with the date I created the piece - January 2008. Next space, celebrates our FIRST DATE - November 1983.

INCOME TAX space reminds us to TREASURE Today and Tomorrow.


The first CHANCE space represents Phillip asking me to marry him and our wedding in 1985. I've been asked several times how I got my pictures SO small. They are the index prints from the photo developer!

The JAIL space is an inside joke of the boys being in TIME OUT and always insisting it "wasn't me". Yet, somehow, somewhere, there was always EVIDENCE to the contrary!

The "Hold Your Breath" phrase with the Narrow Bridge photo is something Phillip started saying to me everytime we drove over a narrow bridge. We had to suck in and hold our breath until we were across. He joked at the time that we'd have to do that everytime with our "future" kids....and we do!

Well, you get the picture. I had a blast doing this project. It is my family's favorite and will surely become a family heirloom.

Phillip and I plan to build a 1" deep shadow box with clear, glare resistant acrylic to protect it. The back side will be weighted at the bottom corner point and have a lazy-susan-like fastener to allow it to hang on the wall with SCHIEFER reading level, but allowed to be turned by viewers.

So, go get yourself a board and start creating. AND be sure to send me photos!



The houses represent all the places we have lived since we got married.

Yeah, CHEVROLET parking only! Gotta love the classics.

Three chances? Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl??? BOY 1, BOY 2, BOY 3. DONE!

Unconditional Love. Tears of Laughter. Tears of Joy. Tears of Happiness. WATER WORKS!

GO TO JAIL space. Go to Disneyland (like we don't get enough of Disney?!!) But this is actually a tag from an old sweatshirt covered with Glossy Accents. AND 3 black buttons to make a Mickey head! Kyle, my most SERIOUS TEEN - NOT!!!

Those three boys of mine! At ages - 20, 17, and 14. They grow up so fast!

Hope you enjoyed the game!