easy instagram collage

Easy Instagram Collage – It’s happening. The oldest child is moving out of their sleeping room soon, and to be honest, the younger two are kind of bummed.

If I’m being honest, so am I. I think the bumming comes on multiple levels, with mixed emotions. I, for one, am not ready to let the space go. It’s probably my favorite room ever, mostly because we did it on a dime when we moved, and it was a fun challenge with lots of personality. It was infused with all the love, and I think that shows. They truly have loved this space. The youngest two, don’t think it’s “fair”, even though we’ve reminded them that lots of children share spaces {cue me, looking up children’s bedrooms around the world – one of them a dirt floor, and not-so-subtly reminding them how good they have it – sorry not sorry. I’m sure they’ll tell me later in therapy that I’m doing it wrong}. So with the completion of our basement {reveal next week!} and the spreading out of my studio – the money pit is starting to feel super spacious.

I think that over all, though, there’s a slight sadness in the closing of a chapter.

Easy Instagram Collage – Our Children’s Space

So I did what any mom would do, and decided to infuse a little of my own love language. An easy Instagram collage. Some moms bake things. Others write love letters.
Mine came in the form of small changes for the youngests’ space. Just a few that will get them excited about more room, spreading out, and everything in between.

I added some simple elements to their bedroom, and I have to say, with all of them combined, mission accomplished. The younger two are actually quite pumped at the prospect of more space to spread out, and more personality of their own.

But it’s one of the simple projects I wanted to share today. It’s so easy, it’s ridiculous but I think that sometimes, simple projects are just as {maybe more?} important as full on gut outs and redos.

You may remember our original instagam frame, and you may be rolling your eyes with an oh em gee that was soooo seven years ago. Because it totally was.

This easy Instagram collage is the cheater’s small version. The version for those of us with less time or wall space on our hands… and while we miss this original project oh so much, the last two elements definitely apply to us. With a few holidays and events on the horizon, this would also make a great gift {think parents and teachers} so without further ado:

Easy Instagram Collage – Here’s all you’ll need:

• Board. This can be cut to size upon purchase at your local home improvement store. It can be MDF or plywood or even planks. We recommend that you go with a square size, much unlike what we did. We touched a little on all the frames in this post here if you’d like a review, but we do love this simple configuration, and we think you will too.

• Acrylic. AKA plexiglass. Smaller pieces {at jacked up prices} can also be found at your home improvement store. We love the local glass store where you can have it cut to size. We recommend going at least an inch in, so that said plexiglass forms a nice border on top of your board/wood.

• Screwdriver + Drill bit + Screws: We recommend checking out this post for all the details on drilling into the acrylic.

• Framing pregame: Stain or paint your board according to whatever look you’re going for. {For ideas – not that you need any because you’re amazing and probably have better ones than us – check out our frames post here} While that dries, keep the protective plastic on your acrylic, and drill the holes following the instructions {linked above} with your drill bit of choice. Prep it for assembly.

Once you’ve predrilled all your acrylic holes to your satisfaction, line up your acrylic and wood, making sure all your borders are even. Mark the areas so that they line up with the acrylic holes, and drill those, too. This will allow your screws to go in easily, once your photos are placed.

Side note: Keep up with the acrylic when you place it to the side so that you know which holes line up. Otherwise, you may be flipping and rearranging a bit to get it back into place. It’s just easier if you know how it lays on the wood/backing piece.

Easy Instagram Collage – All things photos

In our original instagram post, we used larger photos, and had them printed at Costco. There are a lot of options for printing your photos, and those were all individually printed at the time. Since this frame was smaller, I simply took our favorite photos from over time, and cropped them into 3 x 3 squares so that they fit nicely in 6 rows of 6 in photoshop.

{Again, our frame is not completely square, so do as I say, and not as I do. I salvaged this one from an old project, and thus the inaccurate measurements. However, if your frame is off, know that it’s still possible because look what we made! YEEHAW. Officially reeling it in with the coffee.}

So I set them up in photoshop, and printed them off on our home printer with photo paper. Cheater’s alert: I only had to cut a few lines because I positioned them right next to each other. I am sure there are a ton of options for printing around town in your own size, if you’re not up for photoshop. To cut down on cost, this was an easy at-home option. Be sure to investigate to see which route is available to you!

Once my minimal cutting was finito, I arranged them all on top of the board. I eyeballed this part, because it was sufficient. You can use double sided tape for this step or cheat with a glue gun on low heat in some of the corners – just watch for the little “cobwebs” they leave behind. There’s nothing more annoying than placing that plexiglass, only to see an obvious strand of hot glue left behind. And then I’m left feeling a little OCD because I’m the only one who cares, and takes the time to remove it… but alas, digression.

Now it’s time to place your acrylic on top, and screw it in! Easy peasy, rice and cheesy.

You can do a series of these on a wall, or a simple one on a desk, just like below. When the kiddos arrived home from school, they all gathered around to look at their photos. Cue the laughter and fun conversations.

I’m making mental notes to do more of these in another area of the house. Our kids love that their parents decorate with photos of them… and they love that they’ll have special touches in their double {instead of triple} shared space, now.

They’re slowly but surely warming up to it all, and Aiden is super excited about his own space, to come!

{Stay tuned for that one!}

Have you tried this one, or our original instagram frame? We’d love to hear! And see… if you have photos! Leave the link below!

Have an inspired day!