I went to a couple of my favourite antique shops recently – oh my, how I have missed it!

Granted, I was actually shopping for props for a photo shoot, but it was still lovely to browse the gorgeous vintage wares.

Naturally, I found all kinds of other things apart from the props I was supposed to be looking for. I was very restrained and only brought one of my finds home with me: this unusual bottle with a marble stopper. It is embossed with ‘J.D. Murphy Crystalworks Wellington’. Since my maiden name is Murphy I had to have it!

My friend brought over the amber jar with flowers when we had her over for dinner (so thoughtful!). I love how the flowers pick up the yellow and oranges of the print behind it.

Do you have any fun decor items with your name or initials on it?

This post is sponsored by Target.

In yesterday’s post I showed you how we The Man installed some new picture ledges. Now onto the fun part – selecting and framing some happy faces!

I wanted to go for a monochrome palette, partly because some of the photos were black & white already but also for a more simple and sophisticated look. I’ve mentioned before how much I dig Target photo frames because the quality is so much higher than their price tag. Prices ranged from $2 to $15 originally, but I picked them up for even less than that at their winter Home Sale.

I used some with regular mats, some with large mats and some without, plus used a variety of sizes and cropping to vary up the look. I mixed three different styles from the Target Essentials range but kept them all simple and white to tie it all together.

I still need to add a couple more family members who are missing from the display – it’s looking rather narcissistic at the moment! But that’s the great thing about using picture ledges and a mix’n'match of frames: it’s easy to add to and rearrange the wall at any time.

It’s so nice enjoying a daily reminder of our favourite memories instead of having them hidden in albums (or worse, on a harddrive) . It’s making me want to print out and frame so many more of our happy snaps.

What’s your favourite way to display family photos?

I’m off galivanting around the world for a few weeks so I have lined up some some talented ladies to hold the fort while I’m gone. Hope you enjoy!

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From reading her blog Look See I know that Naomi loves nothing more than packing her bags and camera and visiting new places. She has a way of capturing the simple beauty that others might miss. So I couldn’t think of anyone better to give us some unique ideas on how to display travel photos. I’ll be using some of these ideas when I get back for sure!  – Alicia

Hi everyone, I’m Naomi Fenton from Look See. I’m a Tasmanian photographer and  secondary school teacher and I’m so chuffed to be sharing some ideas for displaying your travel photos in this guest post for Alicia.

This is something I’ve been putting a bit of research into since returning from living overseas a couple of years ago. My partner and I are both into photography and you can imagine that after travelling together, we’ve got quite the collection of shots that we’d love to have on display. The sting in the tail is, that our living space isn’t large to say the least, and while we both love traditional framing – it’s quite expensive if you have a lot of prints you want to display. (And we do!)

So, keeping that in mind I trawled through the interwebs (and can I just say – thank you internet Gods for inventing Pinterest – you can follow me here if you like) and found a few great ideas.

I Still Love You

The mini pegs display is by Melissa over at I Still Love You and actually includes a free, downloadable tutorial to take you step-by-step through the process. I like the simplicity of the version above, but I have also seen others that incorporate a lot more images which can have a great impact as well.

Just B

The amazingly awesomely creative and talented Kootoyoo over at Just B has an easy peasy tutorial for creating fridge magnets from your Instagram shots. I love how simple this idea is to execute and I love the freedom of being able to play around with different layouts as well.

Ladies & Gentlemen | The Painted Blackbird

Over at Ladies & Gentlemen, Jean & Dylan found a great way to display prints, especially if you are renters and handy with wood. Of course, you can simply use the hangers on their own, minus the shelving.

Kim at The Painted Blackbird is a bit like me in that she’s got a major crush on old fashioned clipboards (I’m actually using some in an exhibition later in December – I’ll post about it on my blog Look See, so check back if you’re interested in having a gander at how they look in that kind of setting.)

Both of these ideas are great for creating a vintagey kind of vibe and you can find them online or in op shops.

The Creative Mama

Stacey posted the bulldog clip idea over at The Creative Mama. This is a great option again for renters (or if you just don’t want to mess up your freshly painted walls) – you can find scrap pieces of wood (keep them as is, or paint them), hammer in the nails and attach your photos with the clips. Then use 3M tape to attach to the wall. No muss no fuss.

So there you have it, just a few ideas for displaying your travel (or any kind) of photos – the tip of the iceberg no doubt. I know I’ll be keeping an eye on Pinterest for more!

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About the guest poster:

I love hearing stories from friends of the funny things their children have said. Sure, it might be nice to share with the friends and aunties on Facebook, but after a while they will be lost.

Capture those little pearls of wisdom with this darling free printable book from Delightful Distractions.

You can find it here at her blog.

I have a bit of an obsession with old thing painted in bright colours and empty frames in general, so I adore this project by Goodwillionaire. Such a great way to display your Instagram photos or polaroids, don’t you think? And at Christmas and birthdays it could easily be repurposed as a card display.

As it happens I have a couple of old frames and an almost complete lack of happy snaps around our house so perhaps I need to do this myself.

See all the project details and more photos here.

I apologise for the title. I really do. Hearing people say ‘totes’ is like nails on a blackboard for me.

In this case, however, I am taking about actual totes.

Camera totes to be precise.

(Apologies for the horrid grainy photos – I obviously had to dust off the ol’ point and shoot to take these photos.)

I’m not sure if I’ve even told you this but The Man and I are heading off overseas for five weeks this summer (HOORAY!).

I love travel photography, but I’m a bit of a princess and find all the paraphenalia frankly a bit annoying. I have a second lens but I never use it because I hate lugging it around, so I take the compact camera bag instead of the bigger one with room for the extra lens (then I’ll be taking a snap and go ‘Ugh, I wish I had my telephoto with me’). I also find it inconvenient to carry around a camera bag as well as a backpack or handbag.

Plus – you know me – I’m all about the functional but there’s no reason why it can’t look good too!

Enter Jo Totes.

I had been coveting this baby for awhile now so I was very excited to unwrap it on my birthday recently (thanks to my parents and in-laws).

I looove how I can fit my camera and spare lens(es) all safe and sound between the padded dividers and there’s still room for my wallet/sunnies/cardi/whatever. There’s even a secret pocket at the back for my iPad as well as pockets at the front for the usual out-and-about essentials. I also like how it doesn’t scream ‘I AM A TOURIST AND I AM CARRYING LOTS OF VALUABLE EQUIPMENT’.

OK now I just sound like an ad I know, but seriously Betsy is going to be my new best travel buddy. The Man also gave me an iPad camera connector so I will be able to upload photos on the go.

Now I’m all set for blogging anywhere in the world!

I’ve decided to do a semi-regular series on how to reuse your wedding decorations in your home decor – I hope you like it!

I collected various oil lamps to use as centrepieces at our wedding reception. I’ve now got an instant collection that looks so pretty catching the light on a window ledge.

First image by Luke Simon Photography

Today’s Rethink & Reuse is somewhat selfish. You see, I have a type drawer that I bought to display some family photos at our wedding. I absolutely love it, but apart from a brief stint as an advent calendar two Christmases ago, I’m actually at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it now.

Here are what some clever folks are repurposing theirs for:

Jewellery rack | Tonya Staab

Shadow box | Apartment Therapy

Shadow box | Design*Sponge

Craft supply storage | 26 Letters

Memento coffee table | Zween

These are all great ideas, but I already have jewellery storage and a coffee table, prefer my craft supplies to be kept out of sight and I don’t really have many tiny mementos for a memory box. I would LOVE to hear your suggestions of what I could do with my cool – but currently useless – type drawer.

Has it really been two weeks already since my last project for Polka Dot Made? I just don’t know where the weeks are going lately!

Head on over to check out the full details of this little concertina photo album, perfect for doting new grandparents or as a wedding keepsake.

It’s Wednesday, so where’s the usual Obsess & Inspire post? My posting schedule only allowed for one post per fortnight that didn’t fit into any of the features. I’ve been finding that my ‘free-choice’ posts have a serious backlog because I couldn’t squeeze everything in. Since I’d rather focus on more original content for you (rather than featuring stuff that’s cool but you’ve probably seen already elsewhere) I’ll be cutting back the Obsess & Inspire feature to every other week. I hope you enjoy the change.

When The Man and I returned from our honeymoon in New Zealand, I showed you a few a lot of our photos. What I never showed you was what I did with them: a bound photo book.

With every second electronics and discount department store now offering photo books, it can be really hard to decide which one to go with. We chose Photobook Australia (there’s also a worldwide website). They are quite a bit more expensive than many options, but it was really important to me to have excellent quality and the timeless look of a beautiful fabric cover instead of the usual photographic cover.

They have special software with layout templates for you to create your book. However they also allow us picky designers to use our professional software and provide the finished artwork, which was another must-have when considering which company to go with.

I love that we have a beautiful coffee table style book documenting our first overseas trip together.