Affordable and Easy 12x12 Wall Art

Dova's Back Handspring by Team Photo

At one of Dova's gymnastics meets, I purchased this wonderful photo of Dova's Back Handspring in mid-flight from Team Photo (here's where having a 70-200mm f/2.8L Telephoto Zoom Lens comes in handy). As soon as I saw it, I immediately envisioned it on the wall as a piece of trendy 12"x12" square wall art, one for me and one for my mom.

Looking around web, I found canvas prints, metal prints, photo panels, mounted wall art, the possibilities were endless! The only thing in common was that nothing was really affordable, especially since I wanted two pieces.  Here's a sampling of mounted ready-to-hang photo panels in the 12x12 size.

• Wall Mounted Photo Panels from Snapfish for $37.99.
• Metal Prints from AdoramaPix for $39.95.
• Mounted Wall Art from Shutterfly for $49.99.
• Canvas Prints from CanvasPop for $65.

Then I eyed this spot in my living room.



Clearly this interior decorating with the IKEA clock, framed Let It Bealbum and mini-framed prints by the late Keith Haring (expertly painted, mounted and hung by me) was a throw back to the days before kids. For the record (no pun intended), the only reason this Beatles album was on the wall was because both Doug and I owned versions of this vinyl album. Doug had the original Apple Records pressing and I had the re-mastered version on Capital Records (in the frame).

More importantly, vinyl records are about 12" square!  It was time to repurpose this frame.  Now, I couldn't find a 12x12 print, so I opted to purchase 12x18 prints and cut them by hand.  The only online photo printing site that I frequent that offered a 12x18 poster size was Snapfish for $9.99.

This frame was originally purchased from Christmas Tree Shops for under $10, but they no longer carry it. For the second frame, I found another inexpensive source at Target.com for $9.99, but when it arrived it was reduced to a box of glass shards. Beware of buying glass frames online! This frame was perpetually out of stock at my local store and I hunted for some time before finding it in another Target store.

Once the photo arrived, I laid the frame backing directly over the photo and marked the crop lines with a pencil.



The photo was affixed to the frame backing using Small Command Strips(I love that stuff!).

Vinyl record frames are actually about 12.5" square, so there was some empty space around the top and bottom of the photo.  I filled the bottom edge with colored paper on one of the frames.

Here's the finished frame. All for around $20!



Now all my walls are clearly adorned with proud parenthood. Keith Haring stays though!

Google Auto Awesome Gallery

Here's some Auto Awesome Google applied to my Auto Backup photos.  Some are super cool, and some just a bit strange...  You can find your own magic photos in your Google+ photos by selecting Auto Awesome under Type from the Search pulldown menu or by typing #AutoAwesome in the search box.

Mix: If you've taken a series of portraits sharing similar background elements, Auto Awesome will compile these photos together into a photobooth style grid. Mix is meant to showcase portrait photos taken with similar backgrounds in time, so it works best with close-ups of faces.

I barely remember when Adam was so small!

Motion:  If you've taken a series of photos in succession (at least 5), Auto Awesome will stitch these photos together into a short animation.

The majority of the my Auto Awesome is Motion since my camera trigger finger is always snapping away. Vote for this photo for BlogHer '14 Photos of the Year (you must be logged into BlogHer to vote).

Smile: If you've taken a few group photos, Auto Awesome will choose the best shots of each person in your image and merge them into one great looking photo.

I found a new smile on my mom for this one.

Action: Take a series of photos of someone moving (dancing, running, jumping) and Auto Awesome will merge them together into one action shot where you can see the full range of movements in a single image, capturing the movement in one captivating still.

OK, Adam with three legs is just not cool!

Pano: If you've taken a series of photos with overlapping landscape views, Auto Awesome will stitch these photos together into a panoramic image.

Apparently Pano works to clone people as well!

Snow:

The snow is magical on this photo of Norman Rockwell's Main Street (Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas).

Twinkle:

No where will you find more lights at Christmas time than at Walt Disney World!  Including The Great Christmas Light Fight.  The added twinkles are really like being there!