When was the last time you snapped photos of your kids playing or learning something new?  Maybe a quick family selfie?  My guess is, it wasn’t THAT long ago.  Thanks to technology, and smarter phones with better cameras, it is easy to snap a quick picture and capture a moment.  Chances are, your phone’s camera roll is full of photos – random things, family, special memories.  Because it’s just so easy to point and shoot.

BUT, when was the last time you printed your photos out – actually held them in your hands?

In the spirit of full disclosure, the gallery wall on our stairs is full of family photos from when Little was just four month old.  He turned three this year and the littlest is over 9 months old.

But it’s true what they say – that time moves by so quickly.  Prior to Little turning 3, I reached out to our wedding photographer to schedule some family photos because I realized just how quickly it was moving by and how badly I wanted to capture this season.

And now, I’ve been working to organize lots of our digital photos to make a big printing order before the new year is out – to update our gallery wall and frames around our house, but also our photo albums.  Because even in such a digital age, I really do think that it’s important to print your photos.

This post is sponsored by Canvas Factory, but all opinions and experiences are my own.  For more information, feel free to see disclosure.

BE SURE TO READ TO THE END TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN WIN A FREE CANVAS PRINT FROM CANVAS FACTORY!

Why You Should Print Your Photos

When we were younger, my parents created photo albums for each of my siblings and myself.  There are pictures from the day we were born, when we started eating solid foods, and our first Christmas.  We have photos from when we lost our first tooth, won our first trophy, our piano recitals, and everything in between.

But I get it.  Photo albums take up space.  And we live in such a digital age, it’s easy to store them on the cloud (and you can store SO many that way), or simply share them quickly on social media for others to see.

So why in the world would we take the extra time to sort out and print our photos?

Digital Photos Aren’t Fail Safe

We’re taking so many photos these days, and simply storing them online – in the cloud or on hard drives.  But what happens if those files become corrupted?  Or if the computer crashes?

Back up your things.  Print your photos.

Printed Photos Tell Our Family’s Story

What is your family’s story?  I mean, who is everyone?  Where do they come from?  Where are they going?

Growing up, I learned so much about my family by looking at old family photos.  I learned about how my grandmother grew up with all of her sisters in a small farming town.  I saw old yearbook photos of my parents and I learned about some of the things they did growing up.

All of these things help us build our own identity as a part of our family.

We’re a part of something (our family) that is bigger than ourselves. 

Printed photos help pass down these old family stories.

Printed Photos Help Us Remember the Things We Don’t Want to Forget

Now that I’m a parent, I often find myself in the middle of something – a really fun day, they boys laughing with one another or learning something new.  And I’ll think to myself – “I never want to forget this.”  I even say this out loud to Hubs from time to time.

But the fact is, we do forget things.  Already, I’ve forgotten so many things from when Little was a baby just 3 years ago.  I love going through old photos and remembering how much he loved trying new foods, or that sweet smirk when he was just figuring out how to crawl.

Photos capture moments, and they can also capture things about our personalities as well.  These days, Little is always moving – running, exploring, playing – so when I see a photos of him running or playing, it’s not even so much about the actual moment – or what he was specifically playing, but I’m reminded just how fun and adventurous he is at this stage.

Or I’ll see the littlest in a photo snuggled right up to me and I’m reminded how much he loves being held by his Mama in this stage.  We love to play and laugh together.

And I never want to forget it.

Printed Photos Allow Us to Engage with Memories

We take pictures in the first place because we want to capture moments and keep them.  But, when was the last time you looked back at that Facebook album you created back in 2008?  Or gone back through your computer files to pull up uploaded photos?

We spend lots of time uploading and organizing (or not) photos that we take, but too often, they just sit there.  We don’t actually go back and engage with them.

Printing photos gives you a physical, tangible capture of those memories.  When you can touch them and look at them, you can immediately transport right back to those memories.

Printed Photos are Fun to Look At

Finally, printed photos are just fun to look at.  They’re fun to look at together as a family and they provide great conversation pieces for guests and friends.  If you’ve got scrapbooks or photo albums at home, take them out this week.  Spend some time looking through them with your family or by yourself.

I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Display Your Photos with Canvas Factory

Now, I realize that you most likely don’t want to print off ALL of your photos.  That’s okay; I don’t either.  But some of them are worth printing.  Some we print go into our photo albums, or scrapbooks, or photos boxes.  Truth be told, we’ve got a little of all of those in our home.

But, other photos should be displayed.  Put in frames, hung on the wall, out for us to see every day.

And if you’re looking for a great way to create beautiful, high quality photo displays?  Be sure to check out Canvas Factory.  They’ve got a huge selection of custom canvas prints to choose from.

I recently had the opportunity to work with the folks over at Canvas Factory to print some of our photos.  It was our first time ordering canvas photos and I cannot say enough good things about our experience.

The site walks you through, step-by-step to create your own beautiful canvas prints.

You simply choose the size and orientation for your prints and upload photos directly to the site.  You can also choose special effects, edits, or even add text to your image if you want (I mean who doesn’t love a good black and white photo sometimes?), and canvas wrap style.

And that’s it.  They ship it right to your front door.  Easy peasy.

Since this was our first time ordering canvas prints, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect – but man.  The canvas itself is beautiful and wrapped so well around the frame.  The corners are nice and tight and the print itself is gorgeous.

The back is enclosed and has easy to hang photos hooks.  I’ve seen other canvas prints with open backs, so I was actually surprised and excited when I saw that this one was enclosed and had the hanging hooks already attached.  One less thing to worry about.

Another thing I really love about canvas is that it is lightweight, which is a huge plus for me hanging things on our walls.

Canvas Factory also has a number of wall art designs available for print as well as the option to print on metal or acrylic.  Keep an eye out on their site as they often run sales – and they make GREAT gifts if you want to go ahead and get started with your shopping early!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Canvas Factory has agreed to give one of you a FREE standard size canvas print (20 x 16 inches or 18 x 12 inches)!  Be sure to enter below for your chance to win.  *Must be 18 years old or older.  Open only to residents of the United States and Canada.  Void where prohibited.  Giveaway will close at 12:00 AM EST on 11/17/2018.  Winner will be selected at random by Rafflecopter and contacted via email.  Winner will have 48 hours to reply before a new winner will be chosen.

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