My cousin’s wife’s father gave me these awesome matchbook covers! I have collected matchbooks for at least a decade but these are by far the oldest in my collection. He has preserved them in baseball card covers. I love the variety in the subject matter, there is even a political matchbook cover. My favorite is the Budweiser matchbook cover that advertises the new “cans.” On the back it says “Make This Test! Drink Budweiser for Five Days. On the sixth day try to drink a sweet beer - You will want the Budweiser flavor thereafter – Never sweet, never syrupy, always uniform, always distinctive. I love the unique and thoughtful gift.

In honor of the declining economy I want to create cheap art that anyone could easily create. It would be tragic if a flagging economy resulted in people not being able to decorate their homes with unique art. Anyway, my first attempt was really easy to create and accidental. I used an old German novel I got for 10 cents at the library book sale, Modge Podge, and a cheap canvas from A.C. Moore (pack of two was under $10). I glued the pages down on it and then sealed it. I think the age of the pages gives it a neat patina. There is something artistic about looking at a foreign language. This was supposed to be the base of a larger piece, but I like its minimalism so I may either leave this as is or do another one where I pay more attention to the placement of the pages, etc.