Hello Friends! I’m super excited to share my latest project with you today! Isn’t it sweet?
As you may know I love doing photo transfers! They are one of my favorite ways to unwind after a long, hard day at work! For this reason I seem to have a lot of finished canvases lying around the house just waiting for the perfect frames to come along.
I was in the mood to make something with my hands this past weekend so I built my own picture frame to showcase some of my canvases. Now I can easily change my art around without the hassle that a regular picture frame would give me because this one has no glass or fasteners to get in the way. It is so easy peasy to use!
Today I will be sharing Part 1 : how to make your own book page picture frame followed by Part 2: how to make your own French art canvas in the next couple of days.
Let’s get started…
To make the book page picture frame:
- manual mitre box and saw or power mitre saw
- ruler
- pencil with eraser
- wooden moulding (approximately 12 feet needed for a 16″ X 20″ wooden artist’s panel)
- paint brushes
- acrylic paint in the color of your choice (colors shown: Titanium White, Dove Grey, Metallic Champagne) or use white acrylic Gesso
- matte Mod Podge or other clear sealer
- 16″ X 20″ raised birch wood artist’s panel ( made by Gotrick or another manufacturer)
- wood filler
- wood glue
- book pages or an item of your choice as a back drop ( ie. scrapbook pages, wrapping paper or a stenciled design)
- black acrylic paint as a base coat for the moulding or a color of your choice
- flat 8″ X 10″ canvas or wood panel (canvas size optional)
- paper trimmer (optional)
- scissors
- paper towel
- 1/2″ finishing nails
- power drill with an extra small drill bit
- the smallest nail set you can find
- hammer
- 220 or 400 grit sandpaper
- newspaper to protect your workspace
- paper plates for mixing paint
1. Use an Exacto knife or pair of scissors to cut out approximately 9-12 book pages from your book. Then trim away all of the “blank” space on each page (see photo Step #3). If you happen to have a paper trimmer this step will be a breeze!
2. Next prepare your panel by coating it with Gesso or craft paint. You can also leave it unfinished if you prefer, but painting your panel helps with adhesion and minimizes warping
3. Test out the placement of your book pages on your panel by lining them up so that they are touching each other evenly without overlapping. Be sure not to leave any gaps between pages but it’s ok if your pages don’t quite reach the outer edges of your panel as they will be covered up by moulding later on
4. Decoupage your book pages directly to your panel with an even coat of Mod Podge as outlined in Step 3 above. Make sure that there is Mod Podge both under and over your book pages so that they will be firmly attached. Try to smooth out any air bubbles. Leave it to dry
5. Coat the book pages with diluted white paint or white Gesso. Use a damp paper towel with a small amount of paint and rub in a circular motion. Then use a dry papertowel to wipe away the excess paint to give a whitewashed effect. You can also dab a small amount of the diluted paint randomly to give your panel a more aged effect
6. Finally coat the top of your panel with 1-2 coats of Mod Podge for protection. After it has dried, use an Exacto knife to trim away any excess paper that will not be covered up by the moulding
To cut the moulding for this project you will either need to use a manual mitre-box and saw or a power mitre saw. If you have never cut moulding before it can seem a little daunting at first but actually it is really easy to do once you get over the jitters or it all! Don’t stress about it! It is only wood and it can be replaced if you happen to mess up. That is why I always buy extra moulding because even though I have cut moulding more times than I can count, I still mess up sometimes. It happens!
The best advice I can give you when cutting moulding is to follow the rule of thumb “measure twice and cut once”! Also, it is best to cut the longer sides of your frame first then if you happen to miscalculate and cut your moulding at the wrong spot you can always use that piece for the shorter side of your frame.
For a detailed instructions on how to cut moulding for this project, please check out my Framed Storage Box {How To} post here.
7. First, cut the moulding to fit your inside frame. I cut my inner frame to fit an 8″ X 10″ wooden canvas panel exactly but you can make your frame to fit whatever sized canvas that you would like. Don’t attach the frame just yet! I will get to that further in the tutorial
8. Next cut the moulding for your outer frame lining it up exactly with the edges of your panel
9. Paint the outer edges of your panel and all of your moulding pieces with one coat of black paint followed by two coats of white paint
10. Drill pilot holes in your mouldings with a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the pointed end of the 1/2″ sized finishing nails that you are using. Try not to drill to close to the edges of the moulding to avoid splitting them
11. To find the spot where your inner frame should go, place your 8″ X 10″ canvas exactly centered in the middle of your book page panel. Then add your wooden moulding around it making sure that your frame is an even distance all the way around from the edge of your panel. Remove one piece of moulding at a time around your canvas and reattach it with wood glue. While the glue is still wet, gently hammer the /2″ finishing nails into your wooden panel. Make sure as you add each section of moulding that it fits fairly closely around your canvas and that your mitered edges fit tightly together
12. Next use your nail set and your hammer to tap your nail heads slightly below the surface of your moulding as shown above
13. Attach your outer frame to the edges of your panel the same way as you attached your inner frame
14. Use wood filler to cover over all holes and mitre joints so that they are hidden. Sand lightly to smooth. Use additional white paint to touch up any uneven spots on your mouldings
15. Then sand your mouldings and the sides of your frame with 220 or 400 grit sandpaper to distress all of the raised edges of your picture frame. You will see whatever color you painted as your first layer coming showing through
16. To protect your frame, coat it with two coats of Mod Podge or your favorite spray sealer
All that is left to do is place your piece of art into your frame opening. It may stay on its own but if it doesn’t you can either use painter’s tape or double sided tape to secure it.
To remove your canvas, simply use a flat object such as a letter opener or a butter knife to carefully pry it out. Then replace it with another piece of art.
The painter’s tape or double-sided tape should come off cleanly because the frame has been coated in Mod Podge.
I think my favorite part of this frame is the distressed mouldings. I love me some aged mouldings!
Here are a couple of my different photo transferred art canvases to show you.
What would I do without The Graphics Fairy with her endless supply of amazing graphics to use for my photo transfers? Thanks Karen!
You can also use this frame to display smaller photographs.
This one was taken at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It has been attached to the middle of the picture frame using removable photo corners.
1. Use it to display your children’s artwork or a favorite mementos from your past travels
2. Paint an 8″ X 10″ canvas with blackboard paint and then insert it into the frame and use it as an chalkboard to help you remember your to-do list or grocery list. When you are done using the chalkboard it is easy to remove and store for later use
3. Create a piece of canvas art for each of the holidays (ie. Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Halloween). When it’s time to put the decorations away, you need only to store the canvas which takes up very little space
4. How about painting the main panel with your favorite stencil or covering it with burlap, textured paper, or scrapbook paper instead of book pages? What about covering the back with beadboard?
5. Why not use your picture frame horizontally as a display stand for your treasures on a side table or dresser?
As you can see, this frame has so many different uses! I know that it will be getting a lot of use in my house and I can’t wait to create some new canvases to display in it.
UPDATE: For Part 2: how to make your own French art canvas, please click HERE.
Until next time,
Parties I’ve Linked Up To:
~ Domestically Speaking – 162nd Power of the Paint Party ~ The Trendy Treehouse – Create and Share ~ The Thrifty Home – Penny Pinching Party ~ Savvy Southern Style – Wow Us Wednesdays ~ I Gotta Create – Wildly Original Linky Party ~ House of Hepworths – Hooking Up with HoH ~ The Shabby Creek Cottage – Transformation Thursday ~ Somewhat Simple – Blog Linky Party ~ The Brambleberry Cottage – Time Travel Thursday ~
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