This post is sponsored by Art.com. Find your art and love your space with art.com’s prints and museum-grade framing.
Decorate with photos you love with Art.com’s Photos to Art (they have a sweet app for that, too).
Art.com provided me with the ability to take one of my photos and turn it into wall art. They print on canvas, paper, acrylic and can finish your new art with stretcher bars, wood panel or matte and frame. All this in a couple of clicks. They print art from 8×10 to 18×24, and you can print your photos straight from your phone using their new photos to art app (hello instagram pics!).
I took advantage of their canvas option, and it came out lovely. I was encouraged to choose something that had to do with travel. We’ve not really travelled much beyond visiting parents so I stole this image from my dad – my parents live in Charlotte and have so many fun adventures without us. Last time he came to visit, he told me about this serendipitous moment he had when the sun was setting and the geese were swimming across the lake at Cane Creek. Luckily he had his camera to capture this moment.
When the opportunity to take photos to art, my mind jumped directly to this as a Christmas gift for my Dad (the man who has everything and wants nothing). It’s perfect. See, he’s the one who taught me how to use a camera. Way back when, I was around 9 or 10, my parents would trade off Saturdays going out with us kids on “kid dates”. We could choose what we wanted to do. One weekend we went to the local Aviary and my dad taught me all about his SLR, an old Nikon 2020. There have been several quiet moments like that since then where my dad has supported and encouraged my love and interest of art. And I feel like in some very small way this print signifies my gratitude for his support.
The encouragement to choose a travel-related photo to turn to art sparked another idea: make miniature art pieces with luggage tags. So I decided to make a luggage tag with a miniature version of his photo. Perfect for a tree ornament! I’ll be using this as the gift tag for my dad’s gift.
These are really quite easy. You can make them with quality paper, felt, pleather or leather. Hang these with your travel photos with the names of places or hang them as part of a miniature art gallery. Sew these pieces together or use glue for a no-sew project!
- leather
- scissors
- pattern (download below)
- tape
- sewing machine
- artwork
Tape pattern onto one piece of leather. Don’t cut out the pattern perfectly and don’t tape inside of your pattern line. Punch holes for corners.
Cut out your window.
Attach second piece of leather suede sides together and sew. Bulldog clips work great. Be sure to use sturdy thread and a leather needle. Use a long stitch length (4.5 +) and sew about 1/4-1/8 inch away from the pattern’s edge.
Once you’re done sewing, cut away excess.
Punch out your top hole and remove top paper. It’s best if you use newsprint or a really flimsy paper to print out your pattern.
Measure from seam to seam and cut your artwork to size.
This tutorial or freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without the express consent of Melissa Esplin. I love getting shout outs from around the web, but please, link with love. You may publish 1 photo along with credit back to the original post, do not copy instructions. Never link directly to the download. If you would like to use this tutorial or freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!
You can see how vastly different each piece above is from one another. But each tells stories of my personal history, so they work together. Any one of these would look fantastic next to my leather piece, a tribute to the connection I have on both sides with the southwest and Native American cultures.
