DIY Washi Tape Photo Frames

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A while back I was contacted by the folks at Staples and offered the chance to receive and review an awesome new printer. While you guys know it’s very rare that I accept items for review, truth be told I had been in the market for a new printer and scanner for a long time so I was pretty psyched to have the HP Envy 110 e-All-in-One Printer show up at my doorstep. To give her a proper test drive, I took inspiration from this post over at Design*Sponge and decided to print off a few photos and play around with some cute DIY washi tape photo frames.

To get this party started, here’s the little corner that I decided could use a nice little extra punch of color. We just recently moved this dresser against this wall and haven’t had much time to play around so I decided it was screaming for a bit of washi tape funk. All you’ll need to do this is a handful of photos you love, washi tape in the colors and patterns of your choice, a metal ruler and a craft knife.

Next up, I just took various colors and patterns of washi tape and trimmed it to size. I stuck the lip of the edge of the tape to my metal straight edge and then marked where I needed to cut and trimmed with my trusty craft knife. I pre-determined how large I wanted the frame to be around the photo and decided to let a big margin of the white paint show around the border to give it a mat-like appearance.

Then it was a quick and easy process of attaching the photos I had already printed and trimmed to the wall with temporary archival-safe adhesive. I used a ruler to lightly mark where I wanted the washi tape to go and then just stuck it to the wall. The nice thing about washi is that it’s not super tacky so you can easily lift up the edge and reposition as necessary to make sure you get a nice straight line to your frame.

And here’s the finished look! This was a super quick and easy project that added a little life to this corner of the room without a lot of expense. I think this is an awesome way to showcase favorite Instagram photos or phone snapshots that might otherwise go unloved. (I went with a photo of my niece that my brother sent me recently and two recent Instagram photos.)

A few notes about the printer itself? Well, for starters it’s awesome. It was incredibly easy to set up and within minutes I was taking advantage of the wireless printing capability while sitting in the living room with my MacBook printing photos to the printer, two rooms over. I’m honestly not one for reading manuals so I followed the on-screen instructions and it was a cinch to get going.

The printer itself is surprisingly quiet and creates beautiful inkjet prints very quickly. The display is crazy fancy compared my last defunct printer and it makes printing photos on the go from various mobile devices super easy when you use the HP ePrint capabilities. You can even connect directly to Facebook and other social media sites, making it easier than ever to print your favorite photos. It’s super compact and the styling is very sleek and modern so you can say goodbye to the big, ugly printer taking up half of your desk. Overall, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re running a small business like a blog or love to scrapbook. The ability to print, scan, copy and fax all from one unit makes it amazingly versatile, something I know I really need as a small business owner. Many thanks to Staples for giving me the opportunity to test drive this awesome printer!

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