Hey guys! So I have some fun news. Actually I have two pieces of news. First did you know that Blacks Photo has got a huge makeover!? You wouldn’t even recognize them – they are rockin’ it. Don’t believe me? Check out their new website and their fresh new look. While you’re there you may notice an Inspiration section filled of creative tips and advice by four different bloggers, including yours truly! We are so happy to be part of the Blacks blog team and hope to have lots of photo inspiration for you. Here’s a peek at one of my latest posts about using photo art to decorate your space. I know it’s easy to go to the store and pick up a piece of art for your space, but where’s the personality in that? Especially when there are places like Beyond a Word where you can get beautiful personalized artwork for your wall. We all spend so much time looking through a screen snapping photos these days thanks to our smart phones and digital toys. We should embrace our inner photographer and get some of those snap shots turned into art for our home. Blacks has some great new photo wall art options to help you give your living space a mini-transformation. I have a few tips to help you incorporate photo art into your space as well as three examples of how I used it in my own space. PLUS a chance to win a $50 Blacks gift card! Instagram makes it easy! If you use Instagram then you have access to instant art at your fingertips. You’re pretty proud of the photos you took of the flowers on your way to work today. After a little filter action, bam! you have a piece of art. Blacks has a whole collection made for Instagram prints. One way to incorporate photo art into your space is with one of Blacks acrylic wall art pieces. It great to showcase personal photos but if you’re an amateur artist & photographer and enjoy taking more abstract or design photos, the acrylic option is a great way to turn your creative photos into real art. For example I have a vintage salt shaker that I’m in love with. It has a great shape, lovely details and it happens to be my favourite colour. I decided to take a photo of it on a white background and blow it up into a piece of fun art for my dinning area. Try leaning your art instead of hanging for a more casual look. This way the art really becomes part of the surroundings, nestled among some of your favourite things. The acrylic is great. It really looks modern, clean and fresh. Here’s a side view to show you the thickness of the acrylic as well as how the piece is leaning. Display photo collections. There’s two things I love, taking photos and vintage dresses and I love them even more when they’re together like in this photo series that I’ve wanted to display for ages. I decided to go with the 8×8 photo canvas option to display these guys. Random photos are totally fine too but if you have some kind of theme (flowers, bikes, sunsets, beaches, pets, etc.) it helps to create a cohesive look.

Think outside the wall. Yup, wall. Sure Blacks products are all ready to hang but consider displaying them in other ways as well. The photo canvases are nice and thick and can easily stand on their own so I decided to place them on a shelf. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge book collector so I like to fill my huge book shelf with art and collectibles. Can you see my new collection of photo canvas art? I know, there’s a lot of stuff. It’s taken me years to fill this wall up with things I love. These new canvases are the perfect fit. It’s great to incorporate art into your book shelf to break up all the books and add pops of colour. You’ll have to check out the rest of my post on the Blacks website to see how I made some cool metal photo art. Yes, your photo printed on metal. Cool huh?! Isn’t your head just spinning with ideas now? How perfect would one of these be as a gift for Mother’s Day? We can help – here’s your chance to win a $50 Blacks photo gift card: There are two ways to enter:

1. Follow The Sweet Escape and Blacks on twitter and tweet about what you would buy with your $50 gift card using #sweetblacksgiveaway so I know you entered.

2. Follow The Sweet Escape and Blacks on Instagram and use #sweetblacksgiveaway to tag what Instagram photo you would get made into photo art.

* contest open to Canadian residence only and the winner will be announced Monday, May 5 at 9am EST.