Toads's Tuesday Tip: Fix that photo & find that frame!

For today's tip I'm going to show you how --for only a few bucks--I turned this...

into this!


The top picture is Ethan's preschool picture...I got it on CD for like $7 when his school had picture day. I liked the pict of him, but with that background I think he looks more like a real estate agent than a preschooler!:) As you can see I needed to change it a bit. Here's what I did!

#1 EDIT YOUR PHOTO. Even if the colors aren't great in your picture (aka blue background or clothes that clash) you can fix it easily yourself. Pretty much any photoshop program can change a colored picture to black and white or sepia.

This time I used http://www.shutterfly.com/ to edit my photo. (I like Shutterfly, but here are a ton of other places online that you can fix & order prints too. I like to order prints online instead of dragging the boys to the store...its worth the extra buck or two I pay for shipping.:) Then I just uploaded the picture, clicked on edit, and changed the color to sepia.

#2 FIND A FRAME. You don't have to spend a ton to find a great frame. My tip is to look at EVERY store you go to. Even if it doesn't seem like a store that would have frames...you'd be surprised.

I found this 16X20 frame (the matte came with it) at Sears (yes, it still exists!:). It was on sale from $45 to $15. I've also found great cheap (but nice) frames at Kohl's & Tuesday Morning.

I've also taken an old frame, bought a bottle of spray paint, and updated the frame color. Easy and cheap.

#3 ORDER YOUR ENLARGEMENT. After I found the frame I just ordered my print that I edited on Shutterfly.com to fit the frame. It was about $4. I know Walmart and other places can be cheaper, but I've had great luck with Shutterfly's quality. (If you don't have them digitally you can always try scanning the actual photo. If you don't enlarge it too much sometimes you can't even tell it was scanned.)

And for about $20 each I got these pictures & frames of my boys!


As you can see, changing your photos to black and white or sepia is an easy way to make your pictures look classy & more "uniform" on your wall, regardless of what your kids were wearing that day.

Have fun! If you end up doing this let me know! I'd love to see how your picts turn out!

4 comments:

Hernandez Family said...

Wow, when I was at your house last I was admiring those pictures (you member). We just got family pictures done and I was wondering where to get frames. I'm gonna check the stores you recommended. Thanks!

Tanya said...

great idea! they look so great.

melissa merrill said...

Cute pictures! You are so smart. I used Shutterfly at Christmas and made a calendar for Ryan's mom. It was so fun and easy and she loved it!

Megan Marie said...

it looks so awesome! I will have to do this with the kid's school pictures. Those blue backgrounds make me feel like a scared, dorky child on picture day all over again.

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