At every opportunity someone is pulling out their smart phone and Instagraming their life. Admit it, you do it too. Well, this Mother's Day why not turn that habit into a gift that keeps on giving: a monthly series of portraits or snapshots of your family having fun.
Other than time, this DIY can be as budget friendly or sky's the limit as you want. Here's what you need to do.
- First, you need a picture frame. To keep this super easy, make sure you choose a frame with a standard photo size that you can print from your printer. I chose a frame that holds three 4x6 photos, a size that I can print out with my printer.
- Over the month, continue taking photos as you normally would and identify some that you might want your family to see.
- At the end of the month, print out as many photos as there are openings in your frame (for me it's three).
- Drop the photos along with a Post-It or short note into an envelope with some cardboard to keep them from being bent in the mail and send them to your mom or grand mom.
This DIY dovetails perfectly with many portrait projects mothers of infants and toddlers take on. Two of my favorite projects are from Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely and PJ of Bunny and Dolly. I started my monthly portrait series of Gates after seeing Nicole's series of Eleanor and August. PJ's monthly post is a little different from Nicole's in that she also writes a letter to Levi, her now 20 month old.
My portrait series is missing a couple of months and is a snapshot of what Gates has been up to since the last portrait. If you're thinking of tackling a monthly portrait project, check out my tips before you begin; they'll help make the project a little more manageable. One tip not listed there is if you want consistency across the photos, purchase the same outfit in multiple sizes and have a button or label that marks the age.
For the super ambitious among us, when you send your monthly photos to your relatives to update your photo frame, send them a letter as well. Last month on Bunny and Dolly, I shared how I'm continuing a tradition of letter writing my mom started when my sister and I were children.
What are you giving the special moms in your life?
Ciao Bella!
Eden!
