How to make photo frames in under 30 minutes

Photo frames - a perfect gift for all occasions. But what to do when time is less or you are low on budget? After all they do cost a little something. 

The post today is a perfect answer to this question. Make your own photo frames in under 30 minutes and at negligible cost.

Essentials :

• Cardboard-use the carton boxes lying at home; recycling feels so good :) 
• Stencil cutter/knife
• Wire
• Paints and other decorative items (pearls, beads, flowers, ribbon etc)

Begin by making a stencil on some thick paper with your desired frame dimensions. I made a 2.5'' wide frame. Use this stencil and cut out frames from the cardboard boxes/sheets using the stencil cutter. Preferably use a rough surface for cutting the frames. Stencil knives are pretty sharp so just be extra careful while cutting.

I have used acrylic paints to paint these frames. You can paste some coloured/printed paper or wrap yarn around them. Give wings to your creative ideas and create your unique frames.

Below you can see the various painting methods that I used.

For the frames below I made a vegetable block with potato. Use a capsicum, onion or a ladyfinger for various patterns of vegetable painting.

For the green frame in the picture on the left, I used the back of my stencil knife for punching a round stamp and pasted a green stone in the centre. A cross design with two colours has been painted on the purple frame in the right hand picture. Pearl and coloured stones have been used for adorning the corners.

For some frames I have used ribbon. The ribbon has either been wrapped around the cardboard or pasted on it. Felt flowers or other decorative tidbits can be pasted above the ribbon wrapping too. For the pink frame below, I alternated the ribbon with a brighter shade of yarn.

A rough paint coating on the base will help hide blank spaces, if any, while wrapping the frames.

Make hooks with thin wire as shown below to hang these frames. Make a loop with the wire and twist one end around the other. Keep some length to insert into the cardboard.

You can now hang the frames on nails or on a rope with clothes pegs.

These gifts will go light on your pocket and definitely bring a smile on the face of the recipient. 

Create your own precious moments wall and relive your memories-choose your favourite pictures, get them printed and stick them at the back of these frames with glue or double-sided tape. 

Enjoy making these. I definitely did :)

Happy crafting until next week.