You took awesome vacation pictures---now what to do with them?

When I'm on vacation, I snap hundreds of pictures.  On the way home, I go through all of them, deleting the blurry, dark, crooked, grumpy and duplicate ones.  When I'm done, I usually end up with some quality pictures from our trips.

But instead of having these memories sit on my phone or laptop, I find myself wanting to do something more with them.

When we moved into our new home a few years ago, we had a lot of empty wall space to fill. As I shopped around for pictures and art work, I became frustrated. I couldn't find a whole lot that I liked. That's when I started making my own.  I simply (and cost effectively in  most cases) turned some of our vacation pictures into art! I realize this is not a new idea, but I am surprised at how few people do it and how easy it is.

Companies like Art.com and Shutterfly are great places to help you turn your photos into art. When they have sales or coupons for free enlargements or photo books, it's even better! Photos can be turned into art on canvas, metal, wood, glass, etc. The possibilities really are endless and the artwork you make from your own photos is special and unique.

After our trip to Morocco, I had tons of pictures of Moroccan spices and food. So I had three of my favorites enlarged and framed. Now, they decorate my kitchen and remind me daily of that vacation.

Here is another photo I turned into art from that trip. This was taken at a market in the High Atlas Mountains. The coloring of the baskets worked perfectly for our family room. I had this one done through Art.com with a custom frame.

When we had our bedroom painted a new color, I knew a picture of the beautiful Caribbean water would look awesome on the blue wall. Now, this is what I wake up to every morning! Gorgeous St. Lucia! I used a Shutterfly coupon for a free photo enlargement to make this. The frame came from a craft store.

I really like the look of canvas, too.  This picture was taken at Balboa Park in San Diego. It's an 8x10 canvas that brightens up our home office.

Another neat alternative to a photo print is a plaque. These can come in all different sizes. I picked 8x10's. (The photo on the left is the canvas.)

Last but not least, photo books are a great way to have all of your best pictures from a trip together in one place. I also display these on either the coffee table or standing up on our entertainment center. Both of these books were made with coupons for a free 8x8 photo book!

I hope to add more art to our walls in the coming year. The space above our living room couch remains empty for now but with a summer trip to Alaska and some other getaways planned, hopefully it won't stay empty for long.