1 Family Photo Posters

I am not a great photographer. I'm not the worst, but I'm not the best. When I see so many gorgeous pictures on blogs I think, "boy those are beautiful" and "gee I wish I could make my pics like that". Photoshop and I are not friends....yet. Illustrator is my friend, we work together quite nicely. Photoshop...not so much. Just haven't taken the time to get to know each other. So, my photos not-a-lookin' so good. Make crazy projects, check. Start blog and write about it, check. Become semi-literate in Photoshop...working on it!

Having said that, though, my favorite photos of my kids aren't necessarily the perfect ones. They are the photos that really capture their personality, or a memory, or something sentimental like that. So I decided to take a few of those photos and turn them into posters with a message. The idea is that as I find/take these pictures I will add to the wall until it is full. But right now, I've started the wall with 4.

I took random frames sizes (from 11 x 14 to 20 x 24), some old and some new, and tied them all together by painting them all the same color, Krylon's "Sea Breeze Blue" gloss spray paint which I found at Michaels. Then I used the frame sizes I had to determine the poster sizes. I used Adobe Illustrator (again, my friend) to create these posters but you can use any program where you can manipulate the text in boxes (different fonts, sizes) and save the photo as a pdf. Then I ordered them at posterprintfactory.com, and in about a week, they were delivered to my door. Then all I had to do was frame them and hang them. Here are each of the posters up close:

In our house, brothers don't always help brothers, like my older son was doing in this photo. Brothers often beat other brothers. When I saw this photo, I thought, "I'm going to remind them how happy they are when they get along." Heartwarming? Yes. Realistic? No. But it is a good reminder that brothers sometimes do help other brothers. 

 This photo was actually taken by my good friend Melissa, but I loved it because it captures the grit and determination on my little Braden's face as he runs for a touchdown. Coach (Dad) is in the background in the hat watching him go. I was going to add after "Run like the wind", "....especially if someone is chasing you", but I didn't want the poster to seem creeper-ish.

My little Case made this flower for me for Mothers' day a couple years ago. It was out of the shape of his hand, and I loved it until it was destroyed  by the same hand that modeled it not too much later. I will always have this sweet little photo of it though, reminding me that this boy is (sometimes) super sweet.

This poster is probably my favorite, though, because it tells a story in just a few pictures about how my babies were. See #3? That's what he liked to do....scream. I personally think it is because he would never take a binkie. I am super pro-binkie and so after months and months of trying to force it on him I gave up...and the results will be forever memorialized in this poster.

So, if you have pictures that maybe aren't the best, but you love them because they tell a story, why not turn it into a poster? Or use several pictures like the Binkie one to make a poster. Every time I pass this wall and look at the pictures I smile, even if they aren't the best....the little people in them are. :-)