kids Archives - Lindsay Ross Blog

EIGHT Photo Display ideas for your home

I’ve been working REALLY hard the past year to take more photos of our every day lives, get our photos organized, backed up, documented, printed, and displayed.

I posted a series about how I’ve been doing this called “Picture Display Movement”.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s not easy and it certainly takes some time. BUT. It’s a HUGE priority for me so I’m making time. Scheduling time. And making things happen.

And now the walls of my home are filled with photographs that make my spirit happy. And remind my children they are loved. And remind our family of how amazing, funny, (and sometimes heartbreaking and disappointing) life can be.

Here are EIGHT different ideas (and a bonus at the bottom) on how to display photos in your own home to hopefully inspire some of you to get them printed and displayed.

{For suggestions on where to print your photos, click HERE}

And if you want some great tips on how to immediately improve your phone photography, enter your name and e-mail in the side margin and I’ll send you TEN free tips you’ll love.

ONE. Print your photos on matboard and display them on a shelf. I like doing non-traditional sizes for my matboard prints. This is 20×26.

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TWO. Get a series of pictures (these are all photos I took at Lake Powell–my happy place) and put them in frames to hang on the wall in a row (horizontally or vertically).

I hung these on the wall using Velcro. There’s a sticky side that sticks to the frame and a sticky side that sticks to the wall and then it Velcro’s together. Easiest way to make sure the pictures are level and in line with each other.

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THREE. Print on matboard and display it on an easel.

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FOUR. Put all your Instagram prints on a print (using Photoshop or other photo-editing software) and display in a frame on the wall.

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FIVE. Use various sizes of matboard prints (can you tell I LOVE matboard prints) and attach them directly to the wall. The large picture on the left is attached using velcro in all four corners and in the middle. The bottom 4 pictures have velcro on the top and are resting on the shelf on the bottom.

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SIX. Use magnet boards (these are from IKEA) and print off various sizes (4×6, 5×7, and a few 8×10–you could also do square prints) and attach them to the magnet board. I just have plain rectangular magnets but you could get cool fancy ones.

Every six months or so I print off new ones and rotate them in.

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SEVEN. One of my favorite wall displays. These are printed on standout boards (stick 1/2 ” out from the wall) but you could easily do this on matboard. These are a series of pictures from my Funbooth session. Just grouped them together.

EIGHT. Printed 16 random pictures at Persnickety Prints in 2×2 squares. Attached them to a wall by our toy room using Washi tape I bought at Target.

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For a BONUS wall display idea, click HERE and see what I did with hundreds of my 4×6 photos to make a super call wall display in my office.

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For more info on how to Organize, Print, and Display your photos, click HERE to read the Picture Display Movement series.

And if you want to stay up to date on future photo tips and other great life stuff, enter your e-mail and name in the sidebar (under “subscribe here”) to stay connected and get TEN free tips to improve your phone photography.

Our kids are capable of SO much.

I posted this on my Instagram account, but wanted to have it here as well.

“He hasn’t been in any lakes this year. He sits on the edge of the boat with his toes in the water and says “I’m getting used to it”. Then on the way home he’ll say “I’ll be brave next time and get in”.

He gets nervous at the lake. Maybe it’s the dark depths of black water, the waves, the potential of being run over by a boat, or the fish (sick). But yesterday he decided it was time to get in. So he climbed on the EZ ski.

As we let out the rope, I could see his face start to crumble. And the tears well in his eyes. And the immediate regret. He looked up at me. My instinct was to pull him back in. But instead, the boat of siblings and cousins (and mom) erupted in screams and cheers. “Yea Carter! You can do it!”

We started to pull him behind the boat. He looked down. Still fighting the fear. And then, he let go. Literally and figuratively. And the wind blew his hair and a small smile crept across his face. And we continued to cheer.

When he climbed back onto the boat, he looked at me and said “I’m so proud of myself for doing that.”

Our kids are capable of SO much. We just have to be willing to let them fight through the fear.

Embracing change

I wanted to get my girls haircut before spending a week in Lake Powell, hoping to avoid brushing out tangles that seem to form just by looking in their general direction.

On the way there, Mya announced “I want to cut my hair short”.

Usually my response to any sort of change, especially “big” change, is “are you sure?” or even more accurate “nope”.

But I’m making a conscious effort to embrace change. And to teach my kids to not fear change. And instead ask questions like “why not?” and give answers like “sure, let’s give it a try”.

And Mya is often my greatest example in this. She’s open minded. She’s not controlling. She loves life and ALL it has to offer. And she’s almost always willing to try something new. In almost any circumstance.

So short it went. And it seems to fit her personality. And will hopefully be far more manageable in the morning after she does who knows what in the night that makes her hair tie itself in knots.

Grateful for a 7 year old who already knows (and hopefully never forgets) that change is good. It’s usually where adventure waits for us.

Housework makes you ugly.

I saw this on Becky Higgins (the creator of Project Life) Instagram feed:

So I’m wondering if that means I need to take this down?

It’s on my wall right when people walk through the front door. Just so they understand why my house is a bomb most of the time. And it makes people smile.

Truly, though, this made me reconsider how I approach housework (and cooking dinner, and putting kids to bed, and getting kids to do homework, etc.). My attitude and disposition will teach my kids SO much more than the actual chores (or whatever it is we’re doing) will.

My attitude, about everything, “will have a deep and lasting impact” on my children’s attitude, about everything. Maybe it’s best that I start to instil a sense of positivity towards chores and housework (even if just to see them do the vacuuming for once – I will get them cleaning the floors with our Bissell vacuum yet!).

I’m still not taking down my sign though.

Summer Bucket List 2014

Each summer we sit down as a family and plan out what we’d like to do for the summer. My kids contribute and then Mike and I fill in.

I try to balance summer between work and play. It’s nice to have a little extra time to teach them new chores and have them help a little more around the house. Last week Jaida said “summer just means we have to do more chores.” And I added “it also means we get to have a lot more fun”. But yes, I do expect them to help more around the house. It’s good for them.

We also try to use summer as a time to challenge them a little. Get them to do more things that scare them (stuff behind the boat) or they think are too hard (hiking). Say Yes to adventure! And spend as much time as possible together as a family.

I print off the summer bucket list and hang it up where we can all see it. My kids keep me accountable to make sure we do the things on our list. There are usually a few stragglers on the list we never get to (like food fight–they keep adding this every year and we’ve never done it). But we do our best to fit in what we can.

Here’s this years list if anyone needs some ideas.

If you need a little extra motivation, you can join the Summer Bucket List challenge that my friend does and win prizes for completing your list.