Altered Photo Frames

Making altered photo frames has become one of my favorite things to do lately. I have found it to be a great way to share my passion for scrapbooking with friends and family members who haven't been bitten by the scrappin' bug yet. It's also a great way to use up patterned papers and embellishments that are leftover from previous projects.

Choosing the right type of frame to alter is the first consideration. I look for frames that have a nice flat surface because it's easier to adhere the papers. I also like for the frame to have a large amount of alterable space to it. That's the one thing that the four that I'm sharing here with you have in common. I decide the purpose for the frame before I ever begin the altering process. Photos are picked out and then the papers and embellishments are gathered.

The first frame I'm sharing is one that I made over eight years ago, right after the birth of my great nephew Alec. Scrapbooking was just getting started but I hadn't created a single layout yet. Luckily however, the craft store where I worked part time had just begun to get some of the products in. This frame came from the unfinished wood section. I painted it with a wash of blue acrylic paint just to give it a hint of color, glued a few babyish images that I cut from a sheet of patterned paper and put a couple of coats of clear varnish on top. It's the simplest of the items I'm sharing with you here but I like it enough that I've been on the hunt for a similar frame so I can do a matching one for his baby sister Hannah.

The next one is made from a wooden frame I bought at a closeout discount store. It originally had cats painted on it. Before beginning to decorate it, I sanded the top surface of the frame a bit. This step roughens the finish up enough that the adhesive sticks well. Memory Mount is my favorite to use because it dries fairly quickly and doesn't cause the papers to buckle. For this one, two different patterned papers were cut at a 45-degree angle. Coordinating cardstock stickers were used for embellishment.

The next two were purchased at a big discount store. Both are currently on the store's shelves and cost around $3 each. The first was originally lime green. I chose to work with papers that would match so that I didn't have to redo the back and sides. I worked with four different patterned papers and adhered them to resemble a log cabin quilt block. An exacto knife is perfect to trim any excess paper from the frame. The result is a nice crisp edge. Older Easter-themed cut outs were used for embellishments to complement the photo of my great niece Katie. Her mom Amanda did a great job enhancing it in Photo Shop.

The last frame I made as a birthday gift for my oldest sister Sue. It has openings for three photos and it's made of a brushed silver metal. I chose to use more Easter Day pictures of our three great nieces who were visiting that day. The frame measures just a bit over 12 inches wide so the patterned paper was centered allowing a small margin of silver to show on all sides. Coordinating papers were used for the centers of the metal rim tags. Names and drawings were done with a Glaze pen.

Today's trip to a craft store had me looking at other things a bit differently. I'm on the lookout for other items to alter because I enjoyed doing these so much. Any suggestions?

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