My Photo Wall

I have been wanting a photo wall in my home for just over 2 years. I had seen them on a few blogs, and was in love with the idea. We had just moved into a home that a great wall up a staircase and I had big plans for it! I started collecting pictures and frames for it and then I found out I was pregnant. A birth of another child meant that there would be more pictures to add. I pretty much put my project on the back burner, only getting prints as I found them free online. After Adam was born I was anxious to get going on it again, but really lacked the time for getting it together.  In January of this year we decided to move again! UGH. But the new house is perfect for us, and it has a GREAT wall for my project!

Not a great shot, but its all I have of the before. Its.A.BIG.wall.

But as soon as I saw this wall I was anxious to get started! I pulled out the baskets of picture frames I had all set aside and started painting!

I decided to paint them all flat black, and I just used the cheapest black spray paint they had at walmart. I think it was $.97 a can. Worked great! Next time I do a project with this much spray painting involved, I will invest in the sprayer that attaches to the can, my finger was sore for a week!

I spent the next week going threw all of the prints I had collected and matching them up to the frames, ordering more of Adam and more recent favorites of the kids.

I have so many wonderful shots of my kids that it was really hard to decide

Waiting to be hung

I spent several hours laying them out on the floor trying to find a good layout, because they were going UP the wall and not accross the wall it was harder to get a good Idea. I then started useing papers in the size of the frames and taping them to the wall to get a good idea.

I thought this was working great, my husband, however, didnt agree. And when it came time for him to start hanging them it ended up that we didnt place them where I had layed them out.

Here is part way threw. I should mention my husband informed me that he hates when I post pictures of him on the internet when he is wearing sweats and looking "like crap". I say "PSSSHHH"

Here is our "finished" project. (before I got the level out) There is plenty more room to add as the kids grow! There are a few white frames on there that I hadnt intended to use that I needed as fillers, but they will be painted black as well.

Im quite proud of this wall, and My photos of the photos dont really do it justice. Of the 35 photos that are on the wall, only 5 of them were taken by someone other than myself. Im also quite proud to say that this wall cost me less than $40 to accomplish. Most of the frames I either had on hand or collected from various garage sales and such. Of the few that I did purchase, I payed less than $1 a piece for on clearance. 

I got all of the prints free or deeply discounted from online promotions as they came about. I spent about $9 on spray paint!

This "j" is a little project I threw together at the last minute for the wall, I will share that soon as well!!

 

2010 Family Photos!

I have been *dying* to share these with the world, but they were a surprise this year! I know, I know, "ohhh family photos- no surprise". But this year was different! It WAS!

My in laws are IMPOSSIBLE to buy for. I know them well, I know what they like so that isn't the problem. The problem is they don't NEED anything. I'm sure this is something that most people face when shopping for there parents and in laws.

So late one night while I just happened to be up nursing it struck me! Something that Im SURE that they would LOVE, and I KNOW they don't have! Well at least not a current one. A Family photo with all of there children together.

Until the next morning I realized that it was going to take a little more to pull off than I had thought. My husbands step brother lives in southern CA. And I had NO idea when he would be coming home to visit. So I approached one of my sister in laws with the Idea, we started plotting! :) We WOULD pull this off.We did, it definitely took all of us to do this!

I secured an AMAZING Photographer. We figured out the date, and we had our fingers crossed for no rain.

OH and we were also hoping that no one would BLOW the surprise! NONE of us are good at keeping secrets from Mary! There was lots of plotting and planning between all of us.

Well, We did it! And luckily there was no rain THAT day. The day before it poured non-stop.

Here it is!! 

It turned out wonderful, everyone looked great! 

Now we all just had to keep it a secret for a another whole month! CRAP! Im sure every.single.one of us at some point almost blew it.

But it was so worth it! As you can see below from Mary's reaction. 

We made her cry! We were all very proud!

Below are some of the rest of my favorites of the day!

If you are looking for a great photographer please check out Lucy Shea of Shea Shots Photography.