DIY Picture Frame

The only thing better than Mixed Media Art Snowmen is mixed media art snowmen in a picture frame. When I was wandering through Joann Fabrics, I stumbled across this bag of 3 dollar scrap wood bag and decided to give frame making a try. 

1) I measured four strips around the picture frame to create one square that fit tightly around the canvas.

2) Cut each strip with a scissors since balsa wood is so easy to cut.

3) Glued the strips together to make a square. This was a bit frustrating because the wood kept sliding so that the edges of the frame were not exactly 90 degrees. A parallelogram with crazy angles does not really make a great picture frame. It took a little time to get it perfectly square. 

4) I cut another 4 pieces of wood to create another square that was slightly smaller than the first. This is so the frame doesn't slide out the front.

5) Then I glued the smaller square on top of the first square and layered the pieces so that the frame would not have a weak point where all the wood met at the same place. 

6) Painted it with FLAT black paint. The flat paint hides a lot of flaws.

7) After the paint dried I taped the picture inside the picture frame with masking tape.

8) I hot glued on cheap strap hangers that I took off some other picture frames. I always get a little thrill when I actually can recycle materials from a previous project.

9) I fished wired gold ribbon through the strap hangers. I use wired because it is much easier to tie a bow that looks stiff and perfect. 

Since these pictures and frames are small and light weight, I was able to hang them directly from the ribbon.

Grade: B+

Skill Level: Low

Difficulty Level: Moderate (its difficult to cut the wood to the correct size, its a good thing the bag comes with plenty of wood strips)

Frustration Level: Moderate (working with glue and wood sliding all over the place is always frustrating)