So last week B shared her new bedroom built-ins and we all agreed that her transformation was quite an improvement from where she started (yikes). When she shared the big reveal, she dished the details on just about all of the products on these shelves, but mentioned that she would give more details on that gorgeous green “palm print” next week.

Fast forward and we are now into next week and ready to dish on how you can get your hands on this print (and 2 others like it) for FREE. Yes….you read that right: FREE Gallery Wall Prints.

3 Free Gallery Wall Prints

In honor of The DIY Playbook’s 3rd birthday week (pop the champs!), we are giving away 3 #free gallery prints that we DIY-ed using the amazing selection of flowers/succulents/greenery at Michaels Floral Market. If the bold green prints aren’t for you, today’s tutorial will also show you a step-by-step process on how you too can use household items to create very affordable prints to display in your home.  If you’re looking to cut straight to the FREE prints, you can download all 3 of these prints here (did we mention they’re free for anyone who wants ’em?!) <– Okay, we’re done:

Once you download and save these files to your computer, here’s what you can do with them:

•  Send them to your local Walgreens to get them printed in different sizes (that’s what we did) in order to later frame <– printing them @Walgreen’s cost us a total of $6 with a coupon
• Print them at home if you have a stellar colored printer (<— budget-friendly)
• Use them on your Desktop as a screensaver
• Any other ideas?! We’d love for you to share them in the comments so we can all benefit.

Greenery Wall Art

But if these three prints aren’t your style, you can always pick up your own flowers or succulents from Michaels and create personal art that aligns better with your style. All you really need is the flowers (or really any fun product you love) and a foam board. We bought a white foam board from Michaels, because we like the crisp white background, but putting items on a bold colored foam board could look really cool too! (maybe black, even blue… whatever your preference + color scheme)When we put our oversized palm on the board, we started snapping away. We used our Canon to capture these images but we’re confident if you photograph in a bright spot (like outside or a near a window), a cell phone camera could totally work too.

Rookie Tip: The key is photographing when you have great NATURAL light. Having a lamp on, or any lights really will give your image a yellow/orange glow, which isn’t the look we were going for. The bright and natural daylight allowed this photo to be bright and clean.We used this same “foam board process” <— not an official photography term… haha #rookies, for each of our photos. These adorable wood block succulents were also from the Michaels and stole our heart right from the start! We put the foam board by the window to create a bit of a shadow effect and really overexposed the photo to make it extra, extra bright. We did this same thing for this succulent branch that we plopped in a white vase. Love how this look turned out and REALLY love that it looks so real. After we were done photographing, we chose the prints that we liked the best and sent these to to be developed. We got the images printed in a few different sizes (4 x 6, 5 x 7 & 8 x 10) to play around and have some options. If you’re not looking for smallish photos, we really like the idea of picking your favorite print and getting a HUGE print of it as a statement piece in your space. It’s like having greenery in your place without the fuss of watering it…that’s our type of gardening. #brownthumbsWe picked up a few frames from Michaels that were contrasting sizes, mat sizes, and colors. We loved how these three worked together because they were so different.
All that was left at this point was to plop the prints into the frames and hang them on the wall. Between the contrasting frames, photo sizes, and the coordinated yet different prints, we had a serious case of heart eyes from the instant we stepped back to admire our work.  Not only is this a great way to create meaningful and cost-effective art, you can use the photographed items again for other decor around the home (or even at the office!). It’s a total win-win in our playbook and when you see the crazy-awesome flower section at Michaels, we know you’ll be happy that these beautiful blooms can do double-duty in your space! What flowers or objects would you photograph for a project like this? Would you stick to one color or mix it up? We’d love to hear your tips & tricks!

Bridget&Casey