Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Custom word poster


I know by now everyone has seen these word collages, but did you know they were so easy do make yourself? 
All you need is photo editing software, I use Gimp as it's free and easy for me. Then you have to set aside hours to peruse Leo Reynolds flickr photos and choose your favorite letters and numbers:). I just used letters to make our last name, but I have seen a last name and an "est. 2004" or whatever year you were married. I like the simplicity of what I went with, but for gifts, I can see the Est. being a nice touch!



All I did was create a new image in Gimp with an image size of 16x20 (since this easily can go down to 8x10 as well) with a high resolution of course. All of my prints are done at Costco so I use their resolution guidelines:

4 x 6                                    690x460 pixels
5 x 7                                    805x575 pixels
8 x 8                                    920x920 pixels
8 x 10                                  1150x920 pixels
8 x 12                                  1380x920 pixels
11 x 14 Enlargements         1610x1265 pixels
12 x 12                                1380x1380 pixels
12 x 18 Enlargements         2070x1380 pixels
16 x 20 Posters                   2300x1840 pixels
20 x 30 Posters                   3450x2300 pixels
11 x 14 Collage Posters     1260x990 pixels
12 x 18 Collage Posters     1620x1080 pixels
16 x 20 Collage Posters     1800x1440 pixels
20 x 30 Collage Posters     2700x1800 pixels

I then took the number is letters in my last name (6) and that gave me a nice 2 columns and 3 rows. I copied the letters I liked from Leo's photo album and pasted them as New Layers into my Gimp image. Then you resize those layers and move them until you get your desired image. Then print and enjoy!

Of course these make great holiday gifts for everyone!

I also added this to the following parties:


3 comments:

Michelle said...

These are so cute! Definitely a good holiday gift idea!

Caroline said...

ooh! i'm making one now. great idea.

did you space the photo like that or is it matted?

mel@livvyloowho said...

Caroline, it's matted. A bit high if you ask me, but the framer didn't quite understand my off centered vision:)