Hybrid Project ~ Paper Wrapped Photo Frame

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Hello to all of you on this Saturday!  Kim here to bring you an “extra” weekend post!  It’s my turn to share a hybrid project with you, but I must say I was a little unsure of what kind of project I had it in me to do this month.  At our house, Christmas decorations have gone up, food for parties is being made, and of course the secret shopping is also going on.  And speaking of shopping for gifts, we recently had family pictures made that will be given to some family members.  I thought it would be nice if I could find a little bit different way to frame them, so I was out there looking for ways to make a picture frame more unique.  One idea I saw was to use strips of fabric to wrap the frame.  Now since I can’t sew, I decided I would try to make this project a little more up my alley.  So… here is my frame wrapped in strips of scrapbook paper!

  I’ll admit that I kept this project as simple as possible, but it still has a bit of flair with the wrapped frame.  I like it!  And here’s what you need to create your own:

• Frame (This one seems so simple, but it was the trickiest part for me.  You need to remember that you are going to wrap the edges when you pick out a frame.  So, the kind of frame where the glass and backing needs to be slid in from one end won’t work.  You need glass and backing that goes straight in from the back.  I hope that makes sense!  And in truth, you may not be able to fit the glass back in the frame anyway.  In my example, I couldn’t.  You may have to experiment a little to see what works best for you.)
• Scrapbook paper (My example uses the plaid paper from Once in a Blue Moon.  I printed it on my home printer on 8.5×11 inch paper.  No need to have 12×12 inch pages for this project.)
• Tape or other kind of adhesive
• Printed out embellishments of your choice
• Scissors

Follow these steps to wrap the edges of your frame:

• Remove the glass and backing from your frame.
• Cut your scrapbook paper into strips.  Mine were about 1/2 inch thick, but you can experiment to see what you like.
• Use tape/adhesive to attach one end of a strip to the back edge of your frame.
• Wrap the strip around the edge of the frame, being sure that you have some overlap each time you wrap.
• When you get to the end of the strip, cut it so that it ends on the back edge of your frame and tape it down.
• Repeat the last 3 steps until you have all the edges of your frame covered.  Just go as close to the corners as you can because you’ll take care of those next.

Now for the corners.  I wasn’t sure what I’d do about this part, but here’s what worked for me.  I cut out a square of the scrapbook paper, then cut a little bit into one corner of the square (shown below).  I taped the two corner pieces down on the inner part of my frame (where it wouldn’t show), then wrapped the rest of the square around the corner like you’re wrapping a present (with more tape to hold it down).

You’ve done the hard part at this point!  You’re all ready to put your pictures and the backing in the frame and add any embellishments you’d like.

There are a couple of other things I’d like to mention from my experience with this project.  Number one, the hardest part is going to be finding a frame that you will still be able to fit the picture and backing in after you wrap the frame.  You might try wrapping just a few strips of paper, then seeing if it’s going to work.  Using regular weight paper (not a thicker cardstock) to print out the scrapbook paper will allow the paper to bend and form more to the frame.  I’d recommend not trying cardstock.  That said, I did use cardstock to print out my embellishments.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this little hybrid project!  And I hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend!!  Be sure and stop back by the blog on Monday as Lindsay will be here to announce our next Layout of the Week.  Bye!

KimHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 4 Comments