Lately my life has felt like it’s in fast forward mode. Basically I had two super exciting events happen back to back. I got to see the Netherlands and Iceland with my husband, Elsie and Jeremy. And then as soon as we got home, we got ready to move into our new house just days later. I’ve felt a little bit like I’m just barely treading water ever since, but I can’t complain because, well, that would be pretty shortsighted now wouldn’t it? 🙂
I absolutely LOVED seeing and photographing Iceland! I hope I’ll be lucky enough to return someday. But in the meantime, I did want to take time out of my unpacking, organizing, and cleaning schedule to print some of those memories.
The first thing I did was print all the “good” photos from our trip (I had plenty of time to edit on the plane rides home). This is super easy to do if you have a quality home photo printer. I’ll get to that in a second. (Although any long time readers probably already know what printer I’m going to recommend.) After printing, I tucked the photos into this year’s photo album, which is quite full already. I consider this my first priority when it comes to saving our memories because I plan to keep these yearly albums forever. My grandmother does something similar, and she literally has shelves and shelves of photo albums lining her living room filled with her kids growing up, then her grandchildren growing up, and now a few great grandchildren too. I aspire to be as diligent about archiving photos from my loved one’s lives.
So that’s priority one. But, as you can clearly see from the images in this post, I didn’t stop there. See, I also am a big believer that photos don’t belong ONLY in albums on a shelf. I LOVE having my memories hung up on walls or scattered throughout our house as little daily reminders of all the good things I have experienced thus far. In fact, seeing my photos displayed somehow is one thing that really makes a house feel like home to me. So, I took some time (very little actually because this project is SUPER simple) away from unpacking and cleaning to print some larger sized photos from our Iceland trip to hang in our front entryway. As soon as you walk in our front door, you see this display.
This was a perfect project to work on with our long time supporters at Canon USA. I used my Canon PIXMA MG7720 printer to print the photos I added to my albums as well as these photos for this project. I really LOVED the quality of these printed images because they are colorful, but in a subtle way. Lots of photos I print have bright pops of color because that’s one thing I’m naturally drawn to in photography, but Iceland had so many naturally occurring weird/amazing/pretty colors, and I’m so glad that really shows through in the quality of these prints.
Here are the images I chose to print for this project. I tried to pick three images that all had shades of blue to give the display some continuity. I also sort of love how you can totally tell how red our noses are in the above photo—it was COLD! Fun memory!
I feel like this is one of those projects that really doesn’t need a ton of explanation as you can pretty much get the picture (ha—pun!) from just looking at the project. Basically I bought three circle frames and painted them gray. They were actually mirrors that I popped the glass out of. They were a good price, so I just went with it. I added my photos. Then I glued belts around the edges and that’s what the frames hang from once displayed. Pretty simple, right? I had seen an IKEA hack similar to this. They used a clock instead of picture frames, but that was the inspiration for this.
These are actually the first photos or artwork that we hung up in the house—so that’s kind of fun, right? Thanks for letting me share! xo. Emma
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
29 Comments
Love this!
What a great way to show all all your pictures!
xoxoBella | http://xoxobella.com
How did you put the photos inside? glue them?
These are beautiful! So simple yet they look great!
http://sprinkleofroses.blogspot.co.uk/
Great idea. Love it
I love the three photos you chose! The hot spring is beautiful.
Simple and cute, love this idea!
Abbie E.
http://abulouslife.blogspot.com/
Adorable pictures. But your dog kind of steals the show. 🙂
♥Heather
These are so cute! I might have to make some for my new office!
they are so good, I want that frames=))
Love these picture frames! I absolutely love that you used belts to hang the frames – so creative and unique!
just lovely! These look great – loving your photo’s, as you say the colours are just wonderful x
Dear Emma,
your photos of Iceland are gorgeous, and that blue bubble just before the geyser shoot is amazing. We have been lucky to go there in July too and by coincidence I just wrote today a post about it : http://www.befrenchie.fr/iceland-family-trip-practical-tips/
Iceland is such an amazing country !
oh what a great idea, as usual! 😉 i’m going to have to have a craft night soon!
http://www.ashleywilliamsdesigns.com/blog
Live these! Where did you find the round frames?
Love this idea… I am not very crafty but I think I might have to hit the shops on the way hope and buy some supplies.
On another note, I spy a pug and a bunny?
This is the great way to frame the your photos!!
Vik
http://suckerscloset.com
Love this diy! and really love the little pug in the last pic….cuteness
http://threadbarecloak.com
I just love this idea!!! The belts the circular frames – all is just beautiful! =) Love those hot springs pics too! =)
http://tootsplusdill.blogspot.com
Hmmm.. never would have thought of using circle frames for my photographs. Thank you for the inspiration Emma 🙂
Hmmm.. never would have thought of using circle frames for my photographs. Thank you for the inspiration Emma 🙂
I really really like this project, it’s a cute combination with the leather belts!
https://makeandmess.com/
Nice detail, it seems a cabin window. Happy weekend beauties!
http://www.inatrendytown.com
That frame is so lovely:)
http://yumiandyuji.blogspot.kr/
Love this! Love the idea of mixing shapes. Adds a little variety!
http://sometimesgracefully.com
Wow, co za miejsca, zazdroszÄ™.
I loove this idea! It reminds me of the windows on a ship (i think they are called portholes ??)! Need to go thrifting for some skinny belts so that I can get this project started 🙂 xx
These turned out really cute! What did you do about glass/plastic protecting the photo? Did you just leave them without protection?
Also, I love your dog. Mine also has a tendency to get in my photos. As soon as I get my camera out, she automatically goes and sits in front of it, probably because she’s learnt that being in photos = attention haha.
Marvelous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so inspired….that is so beautiful,