A recent project of mine was turning our family picture into a large piece of wall art since we have such big walls!! Large prints are hundreds of dollars, which doesn't work for me. :) I recently discovered that you can order "engineering prints" from the office stores! Staples was the cheapest I saw...$1.99 for an 18"x 24", $2.99 for a 24"x 36", and $4.99 for a 36"x 48". I went with the 36"x 48." These only come in black and white, but since I LOVE black and white that wasn't a big deal. :) If you live near a Staples store, you can pick up your order in the store for free. Otherwise you can have it shipped for $9.95...still not a bad price. :) You will also need something to paste your picture onto (since it just comes printed on heavy paper...I bought a big, black, poster-board type thing from Hobby Lobby on sale for $6), and some spray glue (the blog I got the idea from said that mod podge glue will NOT work...it's too wet and wrinkles the paper). Make sure you use some sort of spray glue!! :)
My poster board and print...my print had been rolled up for several days by the time I got around to doing this project and it didn't want to lie flat...I just left it on the floor for awhile with some books on the corners. :)
Trim off any unprinted, white areas on your print. Spray an even layer of glue all over your poster board. Gently spread your print over the glue (this is a job where you really need TWO people....but I didn't realize that until it was too late. :) I managed, but it would have been MUCH easier with another person!!).
My print was a little longer than the biggest piece of poster board I could find, so I wrapped the extra around the back of the poster board and glued it in place. I need to attach some loops to hang it by, but I haven't done this yet. I'm thinking I'll just make some wire or string loops and tape them on. :)
Voila!! All done...for around $11. :)
After a few days my print developed a lot of bubbles and wrinkles, which I think must have been caused by me doing this project alone...to get the print laid onto the poster board evenly, I kept having to pull it loose from the glue and move it a little. I want to try this again with 2 people and see if that eliminates the wrinkles. :)
