Tutorial: Instagram Photo Wall

We all have it, a bare wall in the house we just haven't gotten around to decorating yet.  You know the one.  We've lived here over a year now and I'm still working on getting the house in order.  I have 3 kids that I homeschool, a husband that's frequently away from home between military duty and his full time job, and very little spare time.  So, I need things to be fast, easy, and effective.

I was online printing some pictures for our master bedroom when I saw that Walgreens had 50% off all prints and they also offered photo printing from Instagram.  Sweet.  I settled on 25 different pictures from my Instagram account and had them printed in the 4'' x 4'' size.  I had no clue what I was going to do with them, and no clue where to find 25 different 4'' x 4'' frames either.  So, here's what I did.

What you'll need:

• 1 foam paintbrush
• 1 small jar mod podge (I used the matte finish)
• 1 or 2 sheets of black foam board (I got mine at Hobby Lobby at 40% off it was less than $2)
• 4'' x 4'' pictures
• Ruler
• x-acto knife

1. First, I grabbed my foam board and cut it into 6'' x 6'' squares.  I used my ruler to mark out all my lines and then I cut them with my x-acto knife.  Like buttah.

2. Then, I grabbed my mod podge and my foam brush and slathered a little bit in the middle of one of my foam board squares.

3. You can measure this part but I'm a rebel and I just eyeballed it and centered my picture in the middle of my foam square.  Then, I painted another layer of Mod Podge right over the top of the picture and the entire square.  Make sure all your brush strokes are going in the same direction.  The glue will dry clear but you'll still be able to see the brush strokes from certain angles.

4. Once the glue turns from white to clear, it's dry.  It doesn't take long, maybe 30 min or so depending on how thick a layer you used.

5. Repeat as many times as needed!

I hung all my pictures up on a wall that borders the stairs.  I used small 3M tape strips cut in half (because I'm cheap and these foam squares are really light). I used the level app on my iPhone to make sure the first row of pictures were straight and then I just eyeballed it from there.  Start in the middle and work your way out to the left and then to the right and you'll be good to go.  Easy peasy!

P.S.  While I would love to be one of those bloggers that's fancy and sponsored by big companies, alas, I am not.   I received no compensation for this post.  But, if you're Walgreens and you want to send me free things, I accept. Thankyouverymuch