Pictures as art

I have been doing a lot of planning for the decorating of our new house lately. I've opened an account on Pinterest to keep track of good ideas or things we plan to buy:
http://pinterest.com/charityj02/new-house-decor-ideas/
http://pinterest.com/charityj02/diy/

I've collected lots and lots of pictures in a notebook. And I've done lots and lots of looking online at DIY projects.

One such project I came across appealed instantly because it combined two things I love: using pictures of my family as art, and using Adobe Photoshop to modify/change pictures.  I wanted to share them with you because I love them so much! :) The process makes regular pictures look old-fashioned. For instance, I took this picture of Olivia:

And made it look like this:

So pretty! I love, love, love the effect. Here are some other before/after pictures I've done:

I have a few more, but you get the idea!

Again. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way they turned out!Now I have to get them printed in a large size (Walgreens, here I come!) and buy frames. And figure out where to put them...I'm thinking either a hallway/entryway, our bedroom, or the staircase. We'll see! :)

In case you want to do this for yourself, here are some links to tutorials on how to do it. Also, you have to have some working knowledge of Adobe as well as the program itself.

Original idea & sample layout of pictures

Tutorial for how to use the special effects

Like the tutorial, I used this file for my layering. I don't know who made it but I'm thankful it was free!

If you decide to make some old-fashioned pictures of your own, please share them! I'd love ot see them.