A creative (and cheap) way to display iPhone photos.

Ever since I got my iPhone in January, I have been obsessed with taking photos with the amazing camera... the freaking thing has high resolution that the DSLR I paid $1600 for! And to be able to post process right on the phone! I have 3 different apps that I use to post process and with a combination of them, I simply love my photos.

I put a ton of my photos on Instagram (ayummymommy) and also Facebook, but I know not everyone is down with the social media (like my husband) so I wanted a way to show them off the old fashioned way.

The first step was to have them printed, which ended up being super easy. I simply downloaded the app PostalPix, and then I was able to order photos right from the phone! So simple, they came within a few days and the quality was fantastic.

But then I ended up with dozens of cute photos- unfortunately all of them square with no frames to fit them. I needed a fun way to display them. This part I stole from a friend who is also an iPhone addict. I had seen her Instagram photo display and thought something similar would look great in my house. This is what I came up with:

I started with a trip to Goodwill and by raiding my own craft supplies:

I bought a great large frame from Goodwill for $5. (You can almost always find great frames at a variety of sizes at Goodwill- but you typically need to remove some tacky artwork.)

I then needed small finish nails, tiny clothes pins (purchased at any art supply superstore) wire, paint, a small hammer and bowl to mix paint in.

My first steps were to prepare the frame. I removed the lovely sailboat print.

I then used my cheap child labor to move the hanging wire up because I did not want the hanging wire visible from the front of the frame.

I wanted my frame to be white washed (as well as the clothes pins I would be using for hanging the photos) so I created a whitewash- my formula was about half water/half white paint.

(I threw my clothes pins into the whitewash to soak while I was using it to paint my frame.) It took a few coats of the whitewash to get my frame the color I wanted as the raw wood just kept soaking up the paint, but I like the outcome:

The last step was to attach the wire that the photos would hang on. I put a finish nail on the back of each side of the frame near the top. I then measured down 4 inches on each side and put in another nail on each side. I repeated on more time on each side and ended up with 3 rows to fit my 4 inch photos.

I wrapped my wire around the nail a few times and then across the frame to the corresponding nail. I left a bit of slack as I like the look of the photos 'swooping' down a bit.

After i removed my mini clothes pins from the white wash and let them dry, I hung my photos and then hung the frame in my living room:

The great things is that I can easily swap out photos throughout the year (since I take thousands!) and keep the photo display current.

Thanks, as always, to Goodwill for helping me decorate on a budget.