Fun Paper "Frames"

"Framed" Self-Portrait by Colin, First Grade

Nothing enhances a painting like a good frame! Here's a fun and inexpensive way to frame your students' work.

Let's assume you want to frame a 9x12 piece of artwork....
1. Take a 12x18 piece of construction paper and trim it to 12x15 inches.
2. Center your art on the 12x15 paper (leaving a 1-1/2" margin on each side) and glue it down using a glue stick.
3. Next, crease the larger paper all along each edge of the smaller paper. Be careful to ONLY crease it as far as the edge of the smaller paper and no farther.
4. Then, make another crease from each corner of the smaller paper to it's corresponding corner on the larger paper. The creases turn a flat piece of paper into a 3D frame!

You can achieve varying effects with different colors of paper.... add swirly lines on yellow paper to suggest a fancy gilded frame, or a wood grain pattern on brown paper for a wooden frame.