Printing Digital Art for My Home
October 12, 2026
Old frames stood silent behind my dresser gathering dust and dirt. Some of the frames came from a garage sale several years back, and one heavy, elaborate frame my grandma had given me a few years ago.
What to do with these frames? They were too special to get rid of (I can hardly bear to part with antiques), but I just didn’t know how to use them. I also didn’t know how to use them perfectly in my home, so a fear of failure kept me from bringing these frames out of the dust and into the light so they could showcase artwork in my home.
You know what? I am finally old enough that I am caring less and less what other folks are doing in their homes (bless them) and am starting to embrace with gratitude what I have in my home. I can’t live other’s lives, and they certainly aren’t living mine. Learning from others brings inspiration, but at the end of the day, I’m the one who gets to bring beauty and joy into my home.
I decided to pair my forgotten frames with another forgotten relic of a few years ago—a set of digital French prints purchased from Etsy for a song. For less than $10, I purchased 2,000 French digital prints, enough pictures to provide visual interest in my home for quite a while. (I looked for the seller, but it is no longer available on Etsy. Here is something similar.)
The only problem with this artwork adventure was that many of the frames no longer had glass or backs to them. So I needed a way to display the art and support it as well.
A thought came to me…and at the time it seemed very brainy. Why not publish the art prints onto posterboard from Staples (foam core board, to be proper and specific)? This would provide the structure needed, and no glass or backing would be required. Simply cut out the pictures and pop them into the frames.
That’s just what I did! Printing digital art for my walls brought a seasonal look to my home inexpensively.
For this group of art prints, I focused on an autumn theme. I'm excited to be able to switch out the art and showcase prints for the different seasons.
How to Print Digital Art on Posterboard
1. Measure your frames. Plan for your art to go past the frames a little just in case. I would recommend adding about ¼ to ½ inch extra on each side.
2. Using either Staples’ built in editing software or another editing platform like Canva, create a pdf document with your artwork. (I used Canva to create a 16x24 inch pdf document that I then uploaded onto Staples.) I picked the 16x24 in posterboards and then crammed as many prints as possible on each board. On one board, I printed 2 pieces, and on another, I was able to fit 3.
3. I would recommend selecting a Matte finish. Even this finish is a little shinier than I wanted, but it turned out satisfactory.
4. Once your art arrives (it always takes too long it seems), use a box cutter to carefully cut out your art and mount it in the frames. I would recommend going easy with the cutting out process. You can always shave a little off at a time, but you can’t put back once you’ve cut.
5. Hang your art and enjoy! I used monkey hooks for a super easy install.
What I Learned From This Process
Printing on posterboard is a bit pricey, more than I originally wanted to spend, but I decided just to go with it.
In hindsight, I would like to try a company like Lumaprints next time. Lumaprints prints artwork onto a variety of high-quality fine art paper. I like the look of artwork on fine paper rather than posterboard.
If I ever need support for art in a backless frame, I can buy an inexpensive blank posterboard from a craft store or Walmart. That is a whole lot cheaper than printing the actual art on posterboard.
But live and learn! Sometimes I get very frustrated with wasting money, but as my husband wisely reminds me, these life-learning opportunities are not a waste. I am always learning as I go.
I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for bringing life and beauty into your home—inexpensively!
Happy home.
-Ashley
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