I am always looking for unique ways to display photos in my home. This project was a good one! It cost around ten bucks to make, but looks like it came straight from a high-end boutique!
You can customize this wall hanging to incorporate the number of photos you would like.
I did five–a plaque for each of my kids.
Here are the supplies you will need to make your own wall hanging:
- Wooden Plaques (one for each photo) I used various shapes (5×7 Oval, 5×7 Designer, 5×7 Traditional, and two 5×5 rounds.) You could keep it all uniform, using one shape if you wanted.
- Acrylic Craft Paint (whatever colors you desire) I used Island Blue, Decorator’s Orange, Storm Cloud Grey, Black, and Citrus Green.
- Wood 3-D Star-7 1/2 inch
- Mod Podge
- Foam Brushes
- Stain (can use household stain, or an ink pad) (optional)
- Cheesecloth (or a clean, lint-free rag) (optional)
- Sand It Gadget and Dust Buddy
- Wide Black Ribbon
- Craft Stapler/staples
- 4×6 photos
The first thing you will want to do is determine the order of your photos, and how you want the plaques to be oriented. Then select the color order you would like. You could sand all of your pieces if you would like. I didn’t. I am a pretty lazy crafter. Start painting your plaques!
I loved this next shot–it really isn’t pertinent to this tutorial, it’s just pretty! Keep painting those plaques! And the star!
Allow your plaques and star to dry completely. Isn’t that the worst? Waiting?
If you sand before the paint is dry, it makes an ugly mess.
Go have a snack.
When the paint is dry, sand all the edges.
You should sand down to the wood, to get the light edges on your pieces. If you want to speed things up, you could use a hand-held power sander. 
When you have all the pieces sanded, use your Dust Buddy to clean up all the sawdust on your pieces. The Dust Buddy is awesome to clean up projects with. It really grips dust particles, powders and glitter.
When all the pieces are clean, you can start staining the sanded edges. This is an optional step, but I love the look.
Using a piece of cheesecloth, or a clean rag, rub stain into the edges of the pieces.
It gives the projects a warm, weathered feel.
Next, trim your photos to fit the desired frame.
You can use a die-cut machine, or plain old scissors and a template.
When your photos are prepped, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the underside of your photo, and adhere it to the selected plaque.
Smooth the photo down, and apply an even coat of Mod Podge over the top of the photo, and the whole plaque. This will seal your photo onto the plaque. It also gives your plaque a shiny finish, and deepens the paint color.
Allow the plaques to dry completely.
Lots of drying time here! You may even want to let them sit and cure overnight.
When they are completely dry, lay the pieces upside-down, and attach a long length of ribbon to the backs of the plaques and star.
I used a craft stapler for this.
Make sure your photos are turned the right way!
Trim the ribbon to fit the length of your wall hanger.
My star came with a photo hanger attached already. If yours does not have a hanger, you will need to add one, to hang it onto the wall.
That’s it!
Enjoy your new custom art!
This is so on trend right now! I love this!
Beautiful! I love the colors you used, too!