I got a Tiffany’s holiday catalog in the mail a few weeks ago, and I was so impressed with the artistry of some of the pictures. I mean, yeah, the jewelry is over the top gorgeous, but, honestly, most of it is just too blingy for me to actually wear…and I don’t have the big bucks to drop on multi-carat diamond bobbles anyway.
Just because I’m not going to buy the jewelry doesn’t mean I can’t look at it everyday! No, I don’t mean leafing through the catalog longingly. I mean, framing the pictures of the jewelry. We just had the bathrooms in our house redone, and as soon as I saw these pictures, I thought they’d look perfect framed and hung on the walls in the master bathroom.
I told my mom my plans when we were out Black Friday shopping, and she said that her mom, my grandmother, frames cards and pretty pictures from magazines. Maybe it’s hereditary or maybe I’m just cheap, but I like to think of it as resourceful. My husband asked if he should be concerned that I’m framing pictures of Tiffany jewelry. I assured him that it’s not really about the jewelry; it’s more about the jewelry as art.
Whether you have a Tiffany’s holiday catalog or not, you can copy this idea with pictures you like from catalogs, magazines or even note cards. It only costs you the price of your picture frames, and you don’t have to get expensive frames. For this project, I use printer paper instead of a mat to make the pictures look uniform.
For this project, you’ll need:
- picture frames at least as big as the picture you plan on framing; err on the side of too big
- painters tape
- scissors
- printer paper
- the pictures you want to frame
Step 1: If your picture is in a magazine or catalog, very carefully remove it. Break the binding if you can. If there is a ragged edge where you removed the picture, carefully trim it so that the edge is as even as possible.
Step 2: Take apart your picture frame.
Step 3: There’s usually a fake sample picture inside the frame. Line this up with a piece of printer paper and fold over at the edges.
Step 4: Cut along the folded edges so that the printer paper is now the same size as the fake picture.
Step 5: Fold a strip of painters tape in a loop (so that it’s sticky on both sides), and place it on the printer paper. You’ll want several pieces so that your picture will be held securely. Only use painters tape. Other tape may tear your paper if you have to reposition the paper or the tape.
Step 6: Put the picture frame front-side down. Put the printer paper tape-side-up on top of the glass in the picture frame. Carefully line up the picture that you want to frame on top of the printer paper, using the frame as a guide for spacing. Carefully secure by pressing down on the painters tape. The great thing about painters tape is that it’ll hold your paper in place, but if you don’t get it lined up perfectly the first time, you can easily remove it and try again.
Step 7: Turn the picture around so that your picture is now facing the glass in the frame. Put the frame back together.
Voila! Art!
You can do this same process with photos, and you can even make collages of your family or of memories from vacations.
In these pictures, I used large frames to create collages of recent trips. For the larger one (which is too large to use printer paper!), I turned around the white piece of paper that came with the frame and taped my pictures to the back, which means I got to skip steps 3 & 4 above and still have a mated look. Even though you can’t see it, I did use printer paper for the smaller frame. I didn’t use it as a mat, but with the help of painters tape, it secured the pictures exactly where I wanted them. The pictures in these frames are just basic 4″x6″ prints which you can have printed for free to cheap online or at your local 1-hour photo.
Now, that’s some Pretty Creative Stuff!