Framed with love – how to make a simple craft-stick photo frame

I enjoyed being one of the Tots100 #BostikBloggers last year and am so happy to be able to continue doing it this year. Each month, I will be sent a craft box from Craft Merrily to create something in line with that month’s theme. I’m looking forward to sharing each month’s crafts along with instructions on how you can make them yourself. This month’s theme is Valentine’s Day. The girls and I have had fun making a pretty craft-stick photo frame decorated with heart shapes. It’s a lovely simple craft which is perfect for Valentine’s Day. It could also be used to make a simple Mother’s Day gift.

 

A photo frame made from craft sticks and decorated with heart shapes. "Framed with love: how to make a simple craft-stick photo frame"

 

 

You will need:

  • 8 craft sticks
  • A hot glue gun
  • Glue dots (we used Bostik Glu dots)
  • Heart foam shapes, heart shaped buttons and/or heart stickers
  • A sheet of craft foam
  • A photo (approx 7.5cm square)
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • String
  • Hole punch

 

1) Glue two craft sticks together along the longest edge using hot glue. Repeat with the other craft sticks until you have four sets of pairs.

 

Four pairs of craft sticks

 

2) Glue the four sets of craft sticks together to form a square shape.

 

Eight craft sticks glued together in a square shape

 

3) Decorate with fabric heart shapes, heart-shaped buttons and stickers, using glue dots to fix the heart shapes to the craft stick frame.

 

Jessica and Sophie decorating the craft stick frame with heart shapes and stickers

 

4) Cut a piece of craft foam slightly narrower than the width of the frame and about 3cm longer.

 

The craft-stick frame next to the cut-out piece of craft foam

 

5) Place photo on the craft foam. Make sure it is line with the craft-stick frame when the frame is placed on top with the bottom edge of the frame against the bottom edge of the craft foam. Remove the frame and use glue dots to fix photo in place.

 

A photo glued to the craft foam

 

6) Place glue dots in each corner on the back of the craft frame. Place over the photo and press down to stick to the craft foam backing.

 

The craft stick photo frame with holes punched in the craft foam backing

 

7) Punch holes in the top corners of the craft foam above the photo frame. Thread through some string and tie at the corners. Your craft stick frame is now ready to hang up.

 

The finished craft stick photo frame surrounded by heart shapes

 

The girls loved their finished photo frame. They were able to do the sticking with glue dots by themselves with a little help from me to line up the photo frame. It took us about half an hour to make. You could use PVA glue instead to stick the craft sticks together for the frame if you wanted to make the first steps more child-friendly. You could also change the decorations to create a photo frame for any occasion.

 

We were sent a box of craft materials from Craft Merrily as part of being a Tots100 #BostikBlogger

 

 

Tammymum

8 thoughts on “Framed with love – how to make a simple craft-stick photo frame

  1. Love this Louise, so simple! I’m a prolific crafter and try things out with Robert all the time. At 2 he’s just starting gain an interest in playing with things, he loves sticking, so do I over paint, glue although sticky is easier to clean over paint!! Foam shapes are a firm favourite! Maybe I’m destined to be a Bostik blogger one day, not that I’d know how! One step at a time. Sending all the love, ‪Thank you for linking up to the #familyfunlinky‬

    1. Thanks Karen. It is a lovely simple craft. I love foam shapes – so many things you can do with them 🙂

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