Embellished Wedding Photo Frame

I have remained in touch with one of my younger son's elementary school teachers, a woman named Roxanne.  So when her son got married this summer, I wanted to make a little something for her.  I have done embellished picture frames/mats before as gifts, but I had never done one with a wedding theme.  So I went to Michael's to see what I could find that looked "wedding-ish."  I was pleasantly surprised to find various types of silver flowers along with little black and white adhesive pearls and other adhesive "gemstones."

I selected a simple black frame with two slots for 4x6 photos.  I did this because I wanted Roxanne to be able to use the frame for snapshots from the wedding, and not necessarily for prints that came back from the professional photographer.  In fact, I got the idea to do the frame because of some pictures that Roxanne had posted on Facebook shortly after the wedding -- wonderful snapshots of her and her husband with the new bride and groom, one of her and her hubby dancing at the reception, another with her and her new daughter-in-law goofing around.  The pictures were so great and just expressed the total joy that Roxanne felt that day.

So, to do the embellishing, I just took the mat out of the frame and arranged my goodies in a pleasing manner around two of the corners, then adhered everything using mostly glue dots.  One thing I know about doing these frames is that you need a strong adhesive, because the embellishments will be on a vertical mat (assuming the frame is hung), and that places a lot of extra stress on the embellishments.  They really need to be on there securely!

The top photo shows a close-up of the bottom corner.  I added the date with simple black rub-ons.  I put the date and the embellishments where I did for a specific reason.  I wanted the frame to be useable for photos oriented either vertically or horizontally.  So I kept that in mind while I was designing.

I had a 50% off coupon which I used on the frame, and this gift ended up costing me less than $25.  Plus, I did not use all of the silver goodies so I can use those for another fun project in the future.  The best part is that Roxanne loved it.  She is a wonderful, upbeat, positive person, and in addition, she loves all manner of "bling" so I knew that this would not be too much for her tastes, but you could also tone it down a little for a more streamlined look.

Picture frames are one of my favorite gifts to give for any occasion, but they make an especially great gift for someone that you don't know that well, or when you need something pretty quick but would like something with a bit of a handmade touch.  I am really pleased with the way that this frame turned out!