House of Cards

I live at the end of a hall inside of a great big apartment building. Just outside my door, there is a tiny nook where I realized quite some time ago that I could hang a small piece of art. It took me a while to decide just what I want to put there, but I finally figured it out: I want to use playing cards to display my apartment number! A house (number) of cards!

Then, shortly after that, I found this frame on mega clearance at JoAnn. Score!

Since my apartment number is three digits long, I knew this frame would be perfect! I considered buying myself a pack of playing cards and picking out the correct numbers and dropping them in the frame. I wondered, though, whether I would wind up simply throwing the other 47 cards away. That seemed pretty wasteful. So, when I went to H&G last week, I decided to root through their bins of playing cards and other random stuff to see if I could find an alternative. It seemed to me that I could buy just the cards I needed, support a local business, not find myself throwing 47 cards in the trash (to make sure no one ever tried to play poker with a short deck!) and hopefully find something interesting.

My wishes came true! I definitely found something interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I can't decide which of the combinations I picked out will look best.

1. The oranges

 

It might be the blue background in this photo, but I think the 3 and 9 cards are more orange than red. The inability to read the numbers in the upper corners is based on the size of the cards - not just a problem with the angle in the photo. 

2. The Party Pack

 I love these cards and how easy they are to read. Their bright colors also make me smile. I don't think they look very much like playing cards, though, and I'm not sure whether that's a problem. 

3. The Minis

These guys are sweet and I think their pastel coloring complements the frame. The plus is that, because of their itsy-bitsy size, you can easily see the entirety of each of the cards. The bad news is that each card will need to be mounted. I think I have coordinating paper to draw out some of the colors, but I think that might detract from the look. 

So, now I turn it over to you: which do you think is best? I'm hoping to execute the final choice this coming weekend, so let me know when you have the chance!