Crafty Kait: Mounting Instagram Pictures

   I love being crafty.  In fact, I really don't do enough DIY projects (my Pinterest is overflowing with ideas though).  Here's one of my favorite recent projects, which I created out of a dire need to frame Instagram pictures. The Engineer and I go on a lot of adventures and I wanted to capture that in a not-too-cheesy-or-girly way with our photos.  The man's apartment needed some non-sports decor.

   I chose 4 pictures of different scenery and ordered them through PostalPix on my phone.  Then, after having no luck finding square frames, I settled on canvases meant for painting.  When deciding what backing to use on the square canvas, I debated paint, tissue paper, or scrap book paper.  I ended up finding a vintage dictionary at Brattle Book Shop and tearing out about 20 pages to use instead.  This is the corny part: I chose pages with definitions of words pertaining to love, happiness, and our relationship, and underlined them in black ink.

(I have a weakness for vintage books)

What You'll Need:

• 4 square pictures
• 4 canvases measuring an inch or 2 larger than the pictures
• vintage book paper (or any backing of your choosing) 
• glue, to paste paper
• foam paint brush
• hot glue gun, to paste pictures

Steps to Create: 
(Apologies for not having step by step pictures!  Next time...)

Step 1: Choose your background and lay it out.
Make sure you have everything set up just the way you want.  Once you glue, it's stuck!  I made sure that the words I chose from the dictionary would show through once I placed the picture in the middle. (This was the most time consuming part of the process for me because of the word placement!) 

Step 2:  Cover the canvas.
Using regular white glue, in decoupage fashion, cover the entire canvas in the paper of your choosing.  Don't forget the sides! If you have vintage book paper like me, be careful.  It rips easily.
   Tip: If you happen to be a painter, (or nutty craft collector, like me) you might have some Golden Polymer in your craft box.  I used the gloss to cover the dictionary pages after they were glued on, for added shine! 

Step 3:  Mount the picture.
Carefully measure out the middle of your canvas for your picture placement.  Using hot glue, trace along the edges of the picture and mount it on to the canvas.

Step 4: Ta da! Hang up your art.
Congratulations, you just made a custom "frame" for your fancy Instagram pictures.

  Obviously this craft can be reworked to fit any kind of idea you have.  The guidelines are pretty simple, pick something and glue it to something else.  I love this alternative frame because it looks like art, rather than just a photo. I can't wait to make more!