So you’ve had some fantastic photos taken, or perhaps your own holiday snaps that you absolutely love.  You need to print them(!!) and display them somehow in your home.  Here’s some inspiration for you, beyond the canvases, although they can be beautiful too!

1. A digital photo frame.  These are great because you can change your photos as often as you like.  Apparently some play video clips also!  (Time for me to upgrade!)

2. A wall in your hallway, or perhaps up the stairs.  I have some black and whites of my kids when they were small that I love.  I painted the wall a contrasting colour (I debated for ages between red and purple!) and filled the space with the photos.  (Excuse the photo, I was standing on the stairs holding my camera above my head as high as I could to get most of it in!)

3. Silhouettes.  I get a lot of comments on this display above my fireplace.  It was kind of an awkward shape, and I wanted to do something different.  So I selected some action shots of my kids - jumping off the dock, on the trampoline, that sort of thing.  I cut them out, and traced them onto black cardstock.  Then cut out the shapes on the card.  I then painted the background in the photo frames the same colour as my wall, and arranged the photos around until I was happy with them.  Voila!

4. Pillows or mugs.  There are several companies online that will print your photos onto pillows, mugs or other things.  These also make great Christmas presents for friends and family.
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5. Creative frames.  If you are in any way crafty google “DIY Frames” or check out Pinterest.  There are all sorts of interesting frames you can make with a bit of imagination!

I hope that’s given you a starting point, now go and get your photos printed!!

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There’s always someone who takes all the photos and is rarely in any.  That is me.  I don’t like having my photo taken, but it’s something I’m working on.  Turns out I’m not the only one out there who feels this way, and there’s a reason for it!
When you see a photo of yourself, do you think it somehow doesn’t look quite like you think you look?  I don’t mean when you’re snapped in mid sentence, or blinking, or the morning-after-the-night-before.  Those don’t count.  Apparently it’s down to mirrors.  We look at ourselves in mirrors, but photos are not a mirror reflection so the opposite way around.  Who knew!  Everyone else thinks you look great in photos, but you think photo-you is not quite right.  There’s a TED talk about this if you are interested, you can watch it HERE.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUDxHB41dPQ&feature=youtu.be

Researchers have come up with another reason why we don’t like having photos taken.  I’m not sure I agree with this one, and I’m pretty sure I don’t fall into this category but here it is.  People think they are better looking than they are.  I think we all have a different idea of what “good looking” is, so this is all subjective.  Apparently some researchers took a portrait, changed it into a bunch of photos ranging from beaten-with-the-ugly-stick to incredibly hot.  The participant had to choose which was their true photo.  You guessed it - most people chose the hot one.  At least we don’t suffer from low self-esteem!
Either way, the next time you see a photo of yourself that you don’t really like, don’t worry about it, it’s just your perception.  Everyone else thinks you look great!