In recent years beach photography has become very popular. Not just any shots of the beach, but aerial shots where you get to see the pretty water and a slew of colorful beach umbrellas. Photographer Gray Malin is known for his beautiful aerial shots. I’m a huge fan of his work, but I also love a good DIY project and from that came my latest project.

When I’m working on a budget I always to sites were you can download stock photos for affordable artwork options. After a couple quick searches I found that Shutterstock had the best options. For searching I used key words like: aerial beach view, colorful umbrellas, and crowded beach.

I immediately found a winner! People on the sea beach with sunbeds and umbrellas. Hot summer days.Wow what a title!

{I also really liked this photoas well.}

Stock photograhy sites work by you signing up and purchasing a plan. Now they have monthly options that are pricey, but they also have options where you can download 2 images for $29. I found a coupon code and only paid $23. Once you sign up with a plan you now have the option to download the image you want in a variety of sizes. I wanted something super sized which meant I downloaded the SUPER version of the photo.

I then used Nations Photo Lab and ordered a print in 30″ x 40″ size. They always have 50% off sales, which meant my print was only $25.

Now getting an extra large piece of art professionally framed can be very expensive. I knew I wanted another DIY option and decided to frame my photo with lucite aka acrylic. Typically I purchase sheets of acrylic at my local home improvement stores, but it was too pricey at $60 a sheet and I needed 2. Enter Freckle Face.I had never heard of the company and the name was a bit confusing, but once clicking over I saw that they sold anything and everything I would need in acrylic. Plus as a bonus I could get the sheets in my custom size instead of having to purchase from a home improvement store in a standard size and cut it myself.

Inspiration for frame:

I wanted to have my image floating the acrylic and added a 2″ border around my 1/8″ thick sheet of acrylic.

Everything arrived promptly and in perfect condition.

This project literally took about 15 mins. Once you have all of your materials just measure where you want your hardware holes to go.

Then use a drill gun to make your holes:

Before we sandwiched the photo between the two sheets of acrylic we used 3M Command adhesive stripes to place the photo on the bottom acrylic sheet in order to prevent any movement.

Now all you need to do is add the hardware. We slid a bolt with a larger washer through the holes and used the nut on the back side to tighten the sheets together. Sizing of the bold, washer and nut are up to you. It all depends on how bold you want to be.

If you wanted to attach the photo/frame directly into the wall you would need a lag bolt, an appropriately sized anchor, washer and a nut for back spacing, which will hold your frame off of the wall and give it the floating effect.

{Anchor would go into wall first, then nut, then acrylic sheets with photo, then washer and lag bolt would slide through and lock it all together.}

I promptly leaned mine on my fireplace mantle!

{DIY instructions for fabric monogram applique featured on bench here.}

Close up:

Are you ready to tackle your own extra large aerial beach photo with floating lucite frame?