Discover the secrets to turning everyday phone pics into gorgeous, meaningful art. Perfect for gifts, home decor, and preserving memories.

I’m so excited to share this with you!

It has been a great joy to work with CanvasDiscount.com in sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions and creative content are entirely my own. (Spoiler alert: CanvasDiscount.com is my new obsession, and I can’t wait to show you why!)

Remember all those amazing photos sitting in your phone? The ones that make you smile every time you scroll past them? I’m sharing how to turn them into gorgeous framed prints and canvas art that’ll make your heart happy every time you walk past them.

Here’s the thing – we’re all capturing these precious little moments every day, right? But they’re just… sitting there. In our phones.

Which is exactly where I was stuck until I figured out this approach to turning them into actual art.

Not just any art, but cohesive, intentional pieces that look like they were meant to be together.

The best part? These make the most meaningful gifts ever – and with the holidays coming up, you know I had to share!

Gifting Bonus From Me (and CanvasDiscount.com) to You: click on this MYGIFT20 and you will automagically have 20% taken off everything you order, even the lowest sale prices! This bonus is good through 12/31/24.

P.S. They are running an amazing Black Friday sale at the time of this writing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The Secret to Photo Displays That Wow:
Mix Cohesion with Variety!

Let me share my favorite trick for creating displays that look professionally curated (even when they start as phone pics!).

It’s all about finding the right balance between things that match and things that don’t. Sounds weird, right? Let me break it down!

First, Find Your Common Threads

Think of this like putting together your favorite outfit – you want pieces that work together but aren’t too matchy-matchy:

1. Subject Matter
   • Maybe it’s all those beach vacation shots (hello, happy place!)
   • Or your growing collection of plant photos (plant parents, I see you!)
   • Even abstract pieces that just feel like they belong together
2. Color Vibes
   • Pick 2-3 colors that make you smile or complement your decor
   • Play with different shades – light, dark, in-between
   • Seasonal colors are your friend here too!
3. Style Stories
   • Mix up those artistic vibes:
     • Dreamy watercolors
     • Bold pop art moments
     • Soft, impressionist feels
     • Simple sketches

Now Add Some Spice!

Here’s where it gets fun! While we want things to feel connected, it’s the differences that make it interesting and draw you in:

• Mix up your sizes and shapes
• Try both portrait and landscape orientations
• Mix canvas prints, prints on metal or acrylic alongside custom poster prints
• Play with different frame styles
• Add some dimensional pieces

TIP: Picture Ledges are the Secret

Think of picture ledges as the storytelling stage for all your amazing art. What I love most about them is how easy it is to change out the photos and art on a whim. Or to add a dash of seasonal color or accent without a lot of effort.

They’re even more flexible when you add a shelf extension or two as I shared earlier this week.

Now my picture ledges truly blend the 2D and 3D of life and decorating. I can mingle in a sculpture, a potted plant, a vase of Fall leaves and berries, a small Christmas tree, etc.

This really makes my gallery wall come alive.

Real-Life Examples That’ll Get You Inspired!

The Dog Portrait That Started It All

Let me show you where this journey began – with our furry art director, Grittles!

Cute, right? But let’s take this everyday snap and turn it into something special! Using the BeCasso app on my iPad, I gave it this gorgeous painterly effect:

Already looking more artistic!

But here’s where the magic really happened – I had it printed on canvas through Canvas Discount and wow:

The best part? This transformation cost just $20 (and yours would be just $16 when using the discount link), and now I have a piece of personalized art that makes me smile. And the canvas texture adds this perfect extra layer of artistry that really brings out those painterly effects.

PLUS: You have five choices for the wrapped edge, here I choose for the artwork to be “stretched” to cover the edges. What a difference!

The Family Collection: Bringing Everyone Together

With our grown kids scattered across the country (isn’t that just how it goes?), I wanted to create something special that would bring all our loved ones together on our wall.

Here was my challenge: I had casual photos of our daughter and bonus son, plus both our sons with their significant ladies. Each photo was completely different – different settings, different lighting, you name it. But great smiles that tell their stories which was my focus.

How on earth was I going to make these work together???

A few steps and they became one cohesive piece:

• The starting point: I gathered casual photos of all three couples
• Game-changing move: Used PaintCan (it’s an Adobe app!) to give them all the same artistic style
• The finishing touch: Had Canvas Discount print each one as an 8×8 wrapped canvas
• Instead of hanging them separately, I mounted them all on a single larger (12 x 30) canvas that was languishing in my projects stash and I painted with a warm deep charcoal.

The result? Magic! What could have been three distinctly different, scattered photos became one unified piece of art.

The bold artistic style I chose completely pulls the focus away from the diverse settings. It’s now a single statement piece instead of a chaotic collection – and it makes my heart happy, so happy!

ALTERNATIVES: If you don’t care for the wrapped corners, try CanvasDiscount.com’s Mix Pix, or framed photos using either white or black frames, or even their metal prints.

Travel Memories: The Italy Bridge

Sometimes one special moment deserves its own spotlight. Take this photo of my husband and me on a bridge in Italy:

I wanted to pair it with an oil painting and an Italian tile from that trip. All very different. I needed to rely on color as the common thread in this grouping. So I specifically recolored this one to reference the Italian tile and oil painting for that cohesive element. And it works!

By restyling the photo as a monotone watercolor and having it printed as a poster, it became a significant chapter in a cohesive visual story of a truly memorable adventure.

I could have framed it in a larger wood-toned frame using the wide border as a matt, but I wanted to pull in the blue of the room and the other decorative pieces.

The gourd is there for Fall and is repeated throughout this gallery wall to tie everything together. It will be an accent Christmas tree very soon. In the Winter, it will be a lovely jar candle, in Spring, a potted plant. You get the idea.

Learn From My “Oops” Moment

Let me save you some trial and error with this next one! That Ireland selfie story… it’s a true “learn from my whoops” sharing!

We had this great family selfie from Ireland:

First I used Canva ai to extend the sides — particularly where our oldest son’s face was cut off.

And then I perhaps got a bit carried away testing different artistic styles in PaintCan and BeCasso.

My husband strongly preferred the second version that stayed closer to the original photo rather than the more stylized options. Fair enough – I ordered that one.

Now, CanvasDiscount.com did exactly what I asked – the print quality was perfect!

But here’s the thing: when it arrived, it just looked like a slightly fuzzy photograph instead of the artistic piece I’d imagined.

Lesson learned: if you’re going for an artistic effect, don’t be shy about it! That middle ground between photo and painting can end up looking more like a mistake than a creative choice.

Gift Ideas That’ll Make Them Cry (The Good Kind!)

Story Telling Magic

Remember that Italy bridge photo I mentioned? Well, that same idea is PERFECT for telling any story visually.

How about a family reunion? Imagine the joy for the matriarch of the family when she opens your big group shot transformed into a statement piece, surrounded by smaller artistic versions of individual family moments from the day.

Now that’s a Christmas gift that’ll have everyone calling you the favorite!

Pet Parent Paradise

You know those people who treat their pets like kids? (Raising my hand here! 🙋‍♀️) A painterly portrait of their fur baby is basically the best gift ever. I’ve found that slightly looser artistic styles work amazing for pet portraits – they capture all the personality without getting caught up in every whisker being perfect.

Grandparenting Delight

Make your own “Family Collection” like I did to create a cohesive grouping of favorite candids of all the family!

More Gift-Worthy Moments to Transform:

• Wedding candids that capture the joy
• Commemorate an anniversary with a series of “sketches” of the homes throughout their marriage
• Graduation celebrations in pop-art style
• Travel memories with watercolor effects

Need a bit of help getting started with photo-to-art apps? No worries. Look for a post just for you next Tuesday! Watch for my email with a link to the post. What, you don’t get my emails? Let’s fix that right now:

Thanks bunches! Now back to our photo art:

Tips for Photo-to-Art Success

Before you dive in, here are my tried-and-true tips:

• Choose photos that tell a story
• Don’t be afraid to go bold with artistic effects
• Test your style on a few photos before committing to a series
• Think about where the piece will live in your space

Ready to turn your photos into something special? CanvasDiscount.com is offering an additional 20% off, even their sale prices, to my followers and readers through 12/31/24,. Click on this code: MYGIFT20 and the discount will automagically be applied to all you order! Amazing, right?

And the timing couldn’t be better — huge Black Friday sale going on at the time of this writing — just click on the coded link above to snag that extra special 20% savings too!

I can’t wait to see what you create!

P.S. Promise me you’ll share your transformations in the comments! I especially want to see those pet portraits! 🐾