instagallery.

a few months ago i drank the instagram kool-aid.  and i can't stop chugging.  i can't remember what life was like pre-instagram days.  i mean, how could i NOT take a photo of every meal i ate?  and how could i NOT take photos of cute shoe situations?  and don't even get me started on how i survived without taking umpteen million photos of sweet little norah buggy.  sure, i could take my DSLR camera with me, but i believe sweet brown says it best.

as much as i love me my instagram, i'm pretty old fashioned and enjoy hard copies of photos.  and that's where social print studio steps in--nay--sexy salsa dances in.  they have this service called prinstagram which allows you to print your treasured photos onto teeny tiny little itsy bitsy cards. 

cute, right?

rather than stuffing these little gems into an unorganized photo box (where all of my pictures go to die), i wanted to display them for the world to see.  the WORLD i say!  so here's how i did that.

i began by collecting little frames from antique stores and thrift shops.  i paid no attention to shape or color.  but it turns out i bought all gold and wood.  go figure.

don't pay attention to the creepy little man-boys in the frames.  

i did happen to find a few little oil paintings that were just too sweet to destroy, so i left them as is.

but most of the frames met a much rippyer fate.  don't let this step scare you.  you'll never see the back of the frames.

after you tear the old paper off of the frames, you'll likely find a scene like this one.  lots of old, rusty staples and/or nails.

but it's nothing your pliers can't take care of.

i chose to use navy cardstock to back all of my photos.  i wanted to use black, but i was all out.  and my  laziness trumped my desire to use black paper.  laziness is a strong mofo.  which is why tracing the old photo onto the cardstock was the easiest way to ensure a proper fit.

see what i mean?  easy.

i debated for a while (like, 15 seconds) whether or not i wanted to keep the photos rectangular or trim them into little squares.  but then i remembered that it's hip to be square.

after securing the photo to the backing using double sided tape, i had to macgyver a way to keep the photo in the frame.  i used the really technical technique of plastering duct tape all over the back of the frame.

voila.  not a piece of duct tape in sight.

after repeating the process a bazillion times, the next step was figuring out the layout.  i played around with a few different groupings, but ultimately decided that i liked the look of a straight line of frames to line my hallway.  kind of like an art gallery.

you guys.  i really like this hallway now.  

i'm so happy to have something to look at when i walk down the hallway.  it's the little things in life, i tell ya.

ps, i've missed you.  summer is quickly coming to an end, which means i'll be getting back to my regular routine shortly.  which hopefully includes a regular blogging routine.  hopefully.