We’ve put together some ideas, tips and tricks for you if you’re after some creative inspiration. Whether you’ve got professional photos to play with or are wondering what to do with your phone snaps here are some ideas for you!
We’d love to see what you make… Tag us @nomandmalc on Instagram.
Note- if you’ve got professional photos from someone else, check you have permission to use them. Our clients always have our permission to use their photos to make prints and gifts, just about anything that’s not for profit.
prints
We flippin’ love prints. This is a super simple place to start: print some photos! We could all do with some extra happy faces and beautiful places to look at right now. Then stick them up around your house: tape them to the walls, switch out some you already have in frames. Send some in the post to someone who doesn’t get to see your face as much as they’d like.
We keep two boxes of prints in our bedroom. We have these ones from Paperchase (originally for index cards). They have magnetic closures and are sturdy which feels special for our huge collection. We can browse through or grab one out if we’re talking about a picture we love.
creative crafts
I love finding fun ways to display our prints and Instax pictures. This is a really simple pompom with wire twisted through the middle. Just make a double loop of wire at the top to hold the picture. (Word to the wise: a bigger pompom makes for a more stable picture prop).
Thanks Vicki for sending this photo of a box we made!
Transfer your photos to wood
You can make a sweet little treasure box or a display a special photo by transferring your favourite pictures on to wood. I love this on the lid of a box of photos from a special occassion or for the first year of your baby growing up.
Find the full instructions here.
Make a gratitude area
There’s nothing fancy here, a few pieces of coral from Scotland, a shell, pin badges and some photos that I love. I see them every morning as I get ready. Why not gather up some photos that make you happy and create a little area that reminds you of your blessings.
These instaxes are blue-tacked to a buisiness card holder (which is where we store the others we’ve taken).
Make a photo book
After every holiday we put together a simple photo book, we’ve got 15+ so far. Some are full of photos from our proper cameras, others are mostly phone snaps. Both work equally well. We love reliving the holiday putting the book together. And we pull them all the time to browse or show friends our travel tips.
We use blurb’s softcover square design so they’re all matching. Some of our books are nearly 10 years old and they’re still going strong. But it would be super easy to replace one (and they’re not expensive either). It means we’re not worried about someone damaging the book. They’d be a sweet way for kids to enjoy looking at photos too.
Blurb has easy ways to put together a book, you can build it online or download their software. Once you’ve printed one copy you’ll be able to hit print again on the book anytime.
Our referral code will get you £15 off your first order over if it’s over £40 and give us a discount too.
Send a picture postcard
Check out apps like Free Prints Cards which will let you send a postcard from your phone. Add your pictures to their templates and just pay for the stamp!
A Christmas Photo Album
This one is easy to backdate if you want to start from a significant date like the year your first child was born or when you got together. I’m sure you have photos from each Christmas, you won’t need to have many. We keep things really simple by keeping to one double-page spread for each year. We add photos from across the whole Christmas season and it’s so fun to spot traditions which repeat and watch everyone getting older.
Sometimes we add bonus items too like little crafts we made that year, or our Christmas menu.
You could adapt this idea: how about a collection of your highlights of the year just one page per year. Or a guest book of everyone who comes to stay, with photos of the fun you had together.
Keep your pictures safe
One bonus tip: a little less creative, but really important. If you’ve been meaning to get on top of backing up your photos this season of more time at home would be a great time to do it. There are plenty of apps that will auto-upload all your phone pics. You’ll need a little bit of time to get started, but it’s not a lot, and once it’s ready it will make sure your photos are safe going forwards. We’ve got a blog post all about how to do it!
Any more ideas?
If you guys have made something fun with your pictures or have a project you can’t wait to try out we’d love to hear. Drop us a message in the comments! :)