Super Cool Wall Photo Collage

How many of us have gotten super click happy with the digital age? Guilty! And how many of us have most, if not all, of our family photos sitting on our hard drives instead of hanging on our walls? Um, yeah, guilty of that too.

For me, I love the idea of having family photos displayed as works of art on my walls rather than just photos on display. I found a super cute wall mural on another site and thought I'd give it a whirly go round. I think the end result is fabulous. Not to mention so easy to do!

I chose to go with a 3x3 display, but any odd number will work (odds will always look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye). Choose your photos, and I recommend mixing outdoor, indoor, nature, artsy, buildings, etc so that you have a nice array. If you have a family member in each one, that's great, just try to have different angles, poses, distances, etc. This will avoid having an "all one look" display. Variety is the spice of life; and wall decor.

After editing your photos (there's Photoscape, which is free, and I recommend), make sure you crop them to be square. I chose 8x8 because I found that size frame at Michael's and it fit the wall I wanted to display on. Your photos will likely all look "unmatched" which is fine, but if you want to tie them all together, here are some ideas when editing.

"Straight-up"

With a Sepia Twist

Classic Black and White

Using a TTV Overlay

I used a TTV overlay in my collage. TTV stands for Through The Viewfinder. You can find free ones online. To use it, you'll need an editing software like paint.net (which is free, yay!). Import your photo, then import the TTV. Place the TTV over your photo, then change the layer to "multiply." This will make the overlay translucent and give a cool effect which will tie all your photos together, and keep the colors.

And if you're really fancy with photo editing, you can highlight sections of color on your photos and make the rest black and white. The possibilities are endless.

If you have trouble finding somewhere that will print 8x8, you can use iprintfromhome.com. Prints are only $2 for 8x8 and shipping is free if you order $30 worth. They do a fantastic job.

Happy muraling!! Yes, it's now a word. :oP