Tuesday, November 3, 2009

"joy" frame

It's never too early to get a jump start on Christmas gifts or home decor. Handmade picture frames are a wonderful gift from the heart that will be treasured for years to come. They also add a great personal feel to your home decor.

This week I am going to share how I made this frame. It doesn't take a lot of time (I am thinking aobut 90 minutes, but it's probably less. It took me days to get everything done since I only had a few minutes here and there.), nor does it take a lot of paper.




supplies:
picture frame
several sheets of patterned paper
glue
ribbon
embellishments
chipboard letters



step 1: select several sheets of the oh-so-cute Eskimo Kisses line from Basic Grey. (I just love the colors and mix of prints in this line!) The best part is they are double-sided so you can mix it up.


step 2: cut 1- 1"x12" strip from each sheet of paper. Cut more than one of you want to use a lot of a particular piece. (I tried to keep an even mix of pink, blue and green colors using the others to fill in for a dramatic effect.)

step 3: cut each of these 1" strips to 2.75" lengths. Set aside. (I didn't measure ahead, I just randomly picked this length and width. Thankfully it worked out well for the frame I was using. You can always adjust if you need to.) I ended up needing 53 strips. But don't worry if you don't cut enough the first time, you can always add more as needed.

step 4: Fold each section and glue the inside ends together to form a loop. DO NOT FOLD. I actually rolled mine around a fat pen and then glued the ends and this helped to give a more loopy appearance. Let them dry. I highly recommend a quick-dry glue like Zip Dry for this step. It saves a lot of time.


step 5: Lay the rolled pieces onto your frame and arrange until you get your desired look. I have my loops facing upward for the top portion of my frame, and then facing downward for the rest. Once satisfied I then placed the pieces beside my frame so I would have everything all laid out to glue them onto the frame.

step 6: Glue the pieces down. I found it easiest to do this by putting glue over a section of the frame so I would glue and lay out each row separately. Leave a small area/row of the frame showing. This is where the pieces meet and the ribbon will be placed. ( I had about 1/4"). Let dry.


step 7: Glue ribbon over open space. Overlap ribbon along sides and glue onto back to make more secure.

step 8: tie ribbon bow, and finish with desired embellishments.

Here are a few more detail shots:






I hope I havve inspired you to try to make your own frame! If you do so, please share with us by linking your finished project onto this post. Be sure to stop by the Ally Scraps store and check out all the fabulous new and "old" goodies! You will be sure to find plenty of product to inspire you.
Happy creating!
Rae

5 comments:

laterg8r said...

this is gorgeous, i might just try this :D

sherree said...

Beautiful!!!!What a great idea!!!!

Erika M. said...

What a fabulous idea - love it!

ceiling chandelier said...

What a great idea.

Colleen said...

Gorgeous! Thanks for the fabulous tutorial!