Scrap In Style Tv Challenges & Tutorials: You've Been Framed!

If you're like me, since you've begun scrapbooking all your friends and family members expect handmade, "crafty" gifts...right? I mean really--you can't just give them a stack of photos in the envelope that came from the developer...they have to be in an album, full of pretty paper and rub-ons with clever titles and witty journaling. Right? And when your sister gave birth to her fourth child last month, she dropped not-so-subtle hints about the baby book you would be making for her...and oh, by the way, she really would like to have baby books for her older children too, even though you only started scrapbooking a couple years ago--and her oldest is fourteen. <deep breath>

A few years ago I was knee-deep in the altering stage of this game we call scrapbooking. I altered everything--metal lunchboxes, breakfast trays, cigar boxes...you name it, I was adhering paper to it. My husband told me he didn't dare stand too still for fear of having paper and photos mod-podged to him! ; ) Well...it wasn't long before I grew weary of all the sticky glue and the little pieces of paper around me and I embraced my roots of being a simple, linear scrapper. I put all my Mod-Podge in the garage sale bin as well as anything I'd had good intentions to "alter" and all I had left was a few basic frames and my stacks and stacks of paper and an overload of pictures I absolutely loved.

It was right around that time that I started filling collage frames with favorite snippets of paper and quotes and a photo or two. I made frames for Autumn and Christmas and for baby gifts and when I captured a particularly good picture that needed to be highlighted. I collected frames of all sizes--big ones, small ones, multi-opening frames, magnets. Sometimes they didn't have pictures in them at all. I framed photos to hang on the Christmas tree. I framed little monograms for gift toppers. And now, you can frame to your heart's content, too! : )

Supplies needed:

*Frames larger than your photo. Usually, for a 4 x 6 photo, I use at least a 5 x 7 frame. I don't spend a ton of money on my frames but don't go too cheap, either because they tend to fall apart easier. Look at your local craft store, like Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

*Favorite paper, quotes, flat embellishments. Obviously, if you're using the glass, your layout can't be too bulky. I try to make it as thin as possible, which is sorta opposite of what we've been trained to do with our scrapbook pages! ; )

*Good, strong glue. Your frame will likely be standing up and you don't want all your work to fall victim to gravity.

The thing about frames is that you just need to look at it as a smaller version of a scrapbook page, with less ephemera than usual--a photo, a title and a quote is all your really need. Please excuse the following pictures--it's really dark and rainy and gross here today. : (

With this frame, I did an easy layout and just dressed it up a bit by adding the rub-on to the outside of the frame, giving it a little extra dimension.

This one is for Harper's room--I love the crisp white and the little feminine touch of the flower. : )

For this one, I chose a black mulit-opening frame for Eric's room which coordinates with his furniture. I LOVED so many pictures from his two-year shoot and I wanted to showcase them all, thus the collage frame. You can see details here.