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Easy Solutions for Picture Frame Dilemmas

When you get home with the perfect frame that you have picked out for the photo of that cherished family moment it is really frustrating to see that it just doesn’t fit as you thought it would.  So, you can package everything back up, get back in the car and return to the store, hoping to find another one that will fit the picture….but why when there are other solutions available!

Too Big

If the picture is too big then it will need to be cut to fit the frame.  This is a great opportunity to do some cropping and focus in on the important people or item in your picture.  Cropping simply means that you cut out the unwanted areas around the edges of the photo paper and it is a great way to remove backgrounds and other people that are less than desirable.  You can even do this electronically before you print the picture if you see the opportunity ahead of time.  It’s OK to remove a bit of legs and the sides of arms; it will just look like it wasn’t in the picture to begin with!

Too Small

If the picture is too small, you will need a pencil, tape (ideally double sided), some colored paper (scrapbooking paper would be perfect).   Open the picture frame and remove the glass or the cardboard backing to use as a template for the size of the frame opening.  Place the template on the paper and trace along the outside and cut it out.  With the edges of your picture trimmed neatly, use your tape on the back of the picture and stick the picture to your colored paper.  This will now fit back into the frame and look like the picture has a mat around it without the expense of custom framing.

Some Final Ideas

You can take this a step further and add a creative flair to this by maybe using the newspaper comics or a magazine ad instead of colored paper.  To personalize your picture even more, add some words or stickers or even some premade scrapbooking embellishments.  It is important to keep in mind the thickness of your finished project because you want to ensure that it will fit back in the picture frame.  This is a great idea for birth announcements with the baby’s name in letter stickers and a baby rattle sticker, school pictures with the year or grade noted…you can even do a collage with several pictures in one frame.  Have fun, the sky is the limit!