Do It Yourself Tuesdays: Hanging Picture Frame

So cute. So easy. So the perfect way to personalize that 10X10 cell.

I’m obsessed with taking pictures, absolutely obsessed. I have approximately 44 albums on Facebook and that’s after I consolidated and cut down about 300 pictures. I can’t help it.

By Kim

The digital camera changed my life. I love taking pictures of everything and anything, and capturing every drunken moment of friends passed out over toilets or park benches, of every group pic in the sorority pose, and every picture of birthdays and holidays.

My room has always been covered with the pictures I’ve taken, a visual documentary of my life displayed around my room on a cork board and on the walls. But instead of tacking photos to the wall or searching for the perfect picture frames (which happen to be really pricey), here’s a creative, easy, and cheap way to make a hanging frame of your own.

Whether your room decor is classy or flashy, this custom DIY picture frame will be the perfect wall decor to decorate your life, display your photos, and showcase your memories with some style! It is also the perfect gift to give a friend for the holidays if you’re low on cash but got lots of love.

What You’ll Need:
Picture: Whatever moment or event you want to display!
Cardboard: Use cardboard from an old shoe box, packing box, or even an old pizza box (mmm Domino’s, yummmmmm)
Glue: Superglue and a glue stick. The most essential of all craft tools. You’ll need this a lot during the constructing process.
Ribbon: Any color and any design of your choice. The ribbon will be how you hang your photo frame and can also be used to add accents like bows.
Scrapbook Paper: You’ll need two sheets of different paper per frame (for 4×6 and 5×7 photos). You can use construction paper, but scrapbook paper is the best as it comes in a wide variety of colors, designs, and textures. Buy a stock of paper sheets or buy by the sheet. Usually you can buy 4 sheets per dollar.
Decorative Extras: Buttons, jewels, rhinestones, or bows! Any extras you may want to add to your frame for accents!

What You’ll Do:
1. Cut your cardboard, leaving a border of 2-3 inches of extra cardboard around the size of the picture itself. For example, for a 5×7 picture, cut a piece of cardboard that is 7×9. Use scissors or a razor cutter for a straight edge, but you don’t have to cut it perfectly as you won’t be able to see the cardboard itself anyway. This will be the base of your picture frame.

2. Save your scraps of cardboard! Cut 4 thin pieces (about an inch thick) of cardboard that are about a half inch shorter than the size of your picture. So, if you’re framing a 5X7, cut 2 4.5 inch long strips and 2 6.5 inch strips. Make sense? You’ll use these in step 5.

3. Use the glue stick to glue scrapbook paper to the cardboard base of your frame, completely covering the cardboard. Use a solid color design for classier frames, or a bright and crazy pattern to really add some spunk to your frame! Also, glue a different pattern/color of scrapbook paper to the four thin pieces of cardboard (you can glue these all onto one sheet and then cut off all the excess).
4. Using the glue stick, glue your picture in the center of the cardboard frame base.

5. Using superglue, glue the four border pieces of cardboard a few centimeters away from the actual picture, creating a 3-dimensional border to your frame. These pieces won’t surround your entire picture, but instead create an unconnected border and some pizazz.

6. Cut a strip of ribbon (depending on how long you want your frame to dangle) for the hanging portion of your frame and super glue the ribbon ends to the top left and top right sides of your frame (on the back!).

7. Superglue any extra buttons, jewels, fake flowers, or rhinestones to random spots on your new frame for that extra bit of glam. Or, to make your frame extra special, add additional layers of frames and attach them to your original frame using ribbon (so it looks like a laddder). Or make a frame within a big frame by using a larger piece of cardboard and displaying multiple pictures!

The possibilities are endless for this project, giving you the opportunity to let your creative side out. And after all that studying, there’s nothing you need more than a little creative outlet.