framed

From Habitat magazine - issue 10, Diy kidz

Jazz up a plain picture or mirrorframe with painted cut-outs.

Kids diy framing project Finished Framing Project

You will need:

A plain wooden or MDF picture or mirror frame (available from craft stores)
Pen and a sheet of Coverseal or Duraseal (any contact adhesive will do, it’s a plastic coating with a paper backing used to cover school books)
Scissors
Paintbrushes, Resene testpots (see suggestions below)
Glue-on jewels, craft glue

Step 1: Remove the mirror or photo back and glass, then apply the basecoat of paint to the front of the frame. You can either apply a single colour or paint stripes of different colours so you get a number of colours coming through later. If you paint stripes of colours, let each stripe dry before you paint the next.

Step 2: Take the Coverseal and a pen and draw some simple shapes on the paper side. We did fish, flowers, leaves, spirals, wiggly lines, hearts and stars. Make sure they aren’t too big to fit on the painted frames. Cut them out carefully.

Step 3: Peel the paper backing off the shapes and stick them down on to the frames. On the frame with the lime basecoat, we stuck down some shapes and then painted nother layer of paint, allowed that to dry and then stuck down a second set of shapes to get two colours showing through later.

Step 4: Apply the final coat of paint, over all layers of shapes. This will be the main colour that shows. Let this dry properly.

Step 5: Peel off the shapes to reveal the colours below! On the mirror, we used craft glue to stick on the jewels for a bit of extra zing. Replace the mirror, insert photos or pictures and backing boards.