Adding Personal Touch to a Frame Using Magazines

Personalizing a frame from pieces of your environment is fun and rewarding. The purpose of a frame is to display and art, photos or chippings in a protective space. Picture frames often enhance the media by adding beauty and completeness. The theme of this frame is environmental awareness originating from a charity I love which is the Arbor Day Foundation. For me, having a strong theme really helped to boost the aesthetic of my art and also when deciding which materials to use. Personal frames are simple to make and rather rewarding as you feel you are actively creating something you believe to be beautiful.

I found these frames lying around my house and deemed them best as they were easy to manage, solid, clean and blank. This pack came with two frames, but instructions only call for one in this instructable.

Frames can be bought here

Picture Frame

To design the frame, paint with a bright eco-conscious color and spatter it with various cut-out images from your resources. To portray current events and a moment in time, I used the Economist Magazine.

Materials I used

X-Acto knife set

Mod Podge Matte (Mod Podge clear or glaze would work just as well)

Paint Brush

Acrylic Paint (Any color medium will work)

Magazine (or any desired image resource)

After choosing your specified magazine, cut out little pieces of information. This can include photos, illustrations, word blocks, graphs, etc. Then pile your cuts up and sort through the ones you actually want to use. If you get carried away with the x-acto, just reuse the images in a notebook or journal.

Choosing your desired color, then paint the frame in even brush stores. Even brush strokes will create a smooth and manicured aesthetic.

Using your mod podge, evenly coat the entire surface area of the frame. This includes the sides. Mod podge and acrylic paint do not easily mix, so brushing the mod podge on wet paint will not be an issue.

All has come to this: Design time!

Chose the images that you think will best display your message loud and clear. Be careful not to overload as your frame may not be interpreted easily. Paste each image onto the wet mod podge and using a finger gently smooth over the image and secure into place. Watch out for wet paint on your images!

Finally, kill two birds with one stone by allowing the piece to dry on a high shelf. There, the frame can dry and you can observe your creation.