Quick & creative photo wall art -

With another week of enforced lockdown upon us in Auckland last week, I took the chance to tick off a couple of creative projects I’ve been wanting to do for ages.

I’ve shared earlier some photo designs that I created and put into large Ikea frames (Ribba 19 3/4″ square).

Here’s one in case you missed it. But this time I wanted to do something with a little more mixed media.

Today I’d like to share another type of creative photo wall art.

When I printed my last lot of large format photos for the frames through HappyMoose, I also printed some of their giant photostrips. (I chose the 10x60cm strip of 6 photos).

(Remember, HappyMoose are also the same company that I created the photo dots with.)

The giant photo strips look really neat. I printed three strips, and then played around with their sizes, and cut to suit my frame.

If you’d like to re-create something like this for yourself, this is the process I used.

Here’s how;

Choose a frame

I love the Ribba frame from IKEA for several reasons. It’s nice and large, which is great when you have a large space to fill. I’m working on running these all the way down our long hallway. As with most things IKEA, they’re also extremely cost effective. AND, best of all, this frame is like a shadow box. This means you can add things to the back of the frame, and have space in front or you can put your photos flush to the front. It’s always nice to have choices right?! And on the subject of choices, it is available in other colours.

White cardstock base

Start with a sheet of white cardstock. Ideally you’d make it the same size as the frame (internally), but this wasn’t available from my local art store, so I just went for the biggest I could get. As you’ll see, it’s slightly smaller than my frame. That’s ok, I just stuck it onto the mat that came with the frame.

Add background

I wanted to add a little ‘texture’ so I used some gloss spray and just sprayed it randomly on my cardstock. I used two colours (a dark ) . You need to make sure you set up a little ‘spray booth’ so your spray doesn’t go on items you weren’t wanting to colour! (I just use an old box.) Allow this to dry before you continue.

A close up of the gloss spray finish and embellishments

Add a title

You could use anything here, but I purchased this ‘title’ from Etsy, and then cut it using black vinyl on my Cricut.

Add photos

Again, you could go to town here with your photos and how you want to display them. But I loved starting with the giant photo strips from HappyMoose, and then just cut to size. If you want to do the same, use the code MEMORIES when ordering and you’ll receive a 10% discount. Some of the photos I adhered flat onto the cardstock, and some are raised using foam tape for extra dimension.

Add embellishments

The Ribba frame from IKEA can be used as a shadow box. This means you’ve got room within the frame to add bulky embellishments. I chose some from Close To My Heart – they were the perfect colour to co-ordinate with everything.

Et Voila! You have a beautiful, personalised frame with personality, created by you, in just minutes. Looks fabulous, and costs so little.

Here’s mine amongst my other frames running down the hallway. As you can see, I still have plenty of room for more. But that’ll be a project for another day.