You might have extra cobwebs, fake cemeteries, and creepy jack-o-lanterns displayed OUTSIDE your home this October, but the spooky season calls for Halloween décor inside AND out! Get inspired on one way to make your basic plastic skull a little more fancy with a non-traditional Halloween color palette, shiny gems, and a floral crown. The sleek black façade of our Whittaker frame is a perfect way to contain up this unique piece of pastel Halloween décor which can be placed on a shelf or hung in an entryway of your home.
First, find a saw and cut the back half of the skull off so you have a flush surface to adhere it to the frame background.
Next, give your boney friend a few layers of pink spray paint and allow it to dry thoroughly.
Remove the backer of the frame and adhere the patterned paper onto the surface.
Adhere your skull onto the backer.
Adhere artificial flowers, leaves, and pearls using hot glue. Add a spider over the eye for a creepy effect! Tip: it’s the best to time add black flowers that are pretty sad any other time of the day!
Add gems onto the forehead in strategic spots.
Add the backer into the frame and stretch fake spiderwebs across the corners and front view. Adhere additional spiders or florals to the backer.
If desired, style with additional skulls on a shelf space to really kick up the spooky factor!
About The Author
Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.
DIY Scarecrow Shadow Boxes
September 15, 2021
Drive by any cornfield this fall and you’ll find a plaid shirt, straw hat decoy centered in the field. These quirky scarecrows scared away birds from eating the crops, making them a recognizable symbol for autumn. It isn’t often that scarecrows are found with a scarecrow friend so give them one with these DIY scarecrow Triptych Shadowboxes. The honey pecan finish of the Auden frames brings on the pumpkin vibes of this three-piece artwork fit for your fall mantle. See how to add adhesive vinyl faces using our free template and faux floral accents to complete the look!
Remove the backing from the shadowboxes. Cut pieces of patterned paper to cover the back.
Use a cutting machine or X-Acto knife to cut scarecrow faces from the different colors of vinyl.
Arrange the pieces so you have them set for each of the three frames.
The easiest way to transfer the vinyl shapes onto the frames is to use a piece of transfer tape and a scraper. Apply the transfer tape over the vinyl shape and rub with the scraper. Peel the backing away so that the vinyl is now attached to the sticky tape. Place the vinyl onto the frame in place, using the scraper to smooth and apply firmly.
Repeat to apply all vinyl shapes onto the frames to create your scarecrow faces.
Complete the design by attaching faux floral accents to the top of the frames using hot glue.
Display your scarecrow triptych up on a mantle or in an entryway to welcome autumn!
Your scarecrow family will fit right in amongst the fall décor and all things pumpkin.
About The Author
Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.
Wedding Song Anniversary Gift
September 08, 2021
There’s something so special and magical about your first dance as a couple as it’s a song that may continue to hear throughout your lives together. Make those words part of your home life with an anniversary frame featuring those fateful lyrics framed with a collage from your big day. Our Annie frame is a timeless piece of rose gold that matches most warm tones in the home. Consider filling this metallic molded frame with pieces of your wedding, such as lyrics to your wedding song, a memorable photo, your veil, dried flowers or special keepsake and add a vinyl phrase on top to add more to this mixed media piece of home décor.
Large decorative paper, wallpaper, or wrapping paper
Use a butter knife to pry open the backer board from your frame and remove the backer entirely. Cover with your large decorative paper, wallpaper or wrapping paper to create a fun design for your piece.
Next, try to plan your arrangement. You might choose to try and fit the full music sheet of lyrics in your frame or just some key lines that state your feelings. If the sheets are too long, consider cutting it up and packing it a little tighter in your collage.
To create an aged effect we inked the edges of the music sheet strips with a brown stamp pad.
Adhere your photos in place and add the aged music sheet strips on top. For this piece, or any that include photos, invest in archival safe dry adhesives vs. a liquid adhesive. You can typically find these in the scrapbooking aisle at your local craft store.
Peel the front and back covers from your acrylic pieces for the frame and add them back in the frame. Lay your decorated wedding anniversary piece inside and lose the prongs to secure. To add a little dimension and interest, we are adding a permanent vinyl cut out on the OUTSIDE of the frame.
Tip: use transfer tape and a scraper tool to apply the vinyl to the front of your frame. This way, our silver glitter design stands out and can be seen by all viewers in your home.
Display this rose gold frame wedding anniversary gift in your bedroom or a main area in your home. Admire the changes in life, but also the differences in both photos out on display.
About The Author
Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.
Diorama Key Hook
August 18, 2021
Never misplace the keys in your home again with a cute Diorama Key Hook in your entryway or garage. This shadow box may remind you of a dollhouse with its perfectly petite front door piece and modern white brick background but it’s fit for any home space. See how to create this stylish key rack using a white shadow box that goes with any décor style. Our Wentworth frame has a 2-inch deep molding allowing for quite the arrangement of details inside, including your full dollhouse style scene.
Add your home, shed or car keys on the hooks and never misplace them again!
About The Author
Tara Nehil is author of SpotOfTeaDesigns.com, a lifestyle blog sharing home décor, crafts, party inspiration and parenting lessons learned the hard way. Her graphic design background is evident in the home she lives in and styles with her husband of 8 years and 2 young daughters. Follow her creative journey for photo tutorials, printables, budget-friendly decorating tips and ways to celebrate occasions big and small.
Gallery Wall Tips from Interior Designers
August 11, 2021
A gallery wall can be a stunning focal point or a conversation starter in any space. But creating a gallery wall of your own can quickly turn into an overwhelming task. Here at Custom Picture Frames, our goal is to make custom framing more affordable and accessible and that extends to gallery walls as well. While you’ll always get the best frames thanks to our high-quality materials, it could be hard to get started planning your gallery wall.
To help make the gallery wall planning and hanging process easier, we asked interior designers for some of their favorite tips.
Getting Started
Planning is key when it comes to the perfect gallery wall. It also helps to avoid stress down the line during the hanging process. Planning includes everything from where you’re going to place the gallery wall to the images you’re going to display.
Look for Inspiration
Jess Welling, a residential interior designer and blogger in Seattle, recommends starting with a Pinterest search and finding a few looks you like. “Take note of the colors,” Jess advises. “whether they've used all black and white photos, graphic art pieces, canvases, or a mix of everything.”
Once you determine what you like, and what you don’t like, it’ll be easier to start piecing together your custom gallery wall.
Choose Your Layout
The layout of your gallery wall will make a huge impact overall. With so many configurations to choose from, it’s important to choose the perfect layout for your space.
“Figure out what you want your wall to look like,” recommends Jennifer Guerin, owner of JG Color Studios. Do you want a gallery wall with straight, clean lines? Do you want a little organized chaos? Jennifer also suggests utilizing Photoshop or an app like ArtPlacer to see what your idea may look like to make the best decision.
Pick a Theme
Now that you’ve identified the style and layout for your gallery wall, it’s time to curate the images. From family photos to art prints, the possibilities are endless.
Interior designer Joe Cangelosi recommends focusing on one big idea instead of a bunch of small ideas. This makes for a larger impact overall and will help make curating your images easier.
All of the interior designers we spoke with recommended focusing on decisions like color photos versus black and white imagery. Are you looking to display some of your favorite shots from vacation or decorate with pictures of your friends and family? Although they might be hard to make, these decisions are crucial to nail down before moving onto the next step.
Determine the Frames & Sizing
When we talk about sizing we’re looking at two different components. Determine how big your gallery wall will be. Then, it’s time to start planning the sizes of the frames that will fill that space.
“Don’t be afraid to include large pieces,” Jess says. “I see people make is using too many small framed photos or art pieces in a grouping. This can end up looking cluttered and giving off a dorm room vibe.” She recommends starting with your bigger pieces (think 16x20 inches or larger) and then fill in around those pieces with smaller ones.
Along with the size of the frames, it’s time to start thinking about the style. Jennifer says “You can mix them up, or go for all vintage or all modern - whatever gives it your own personal style!” Even if you’re looking to replicate a style or layout you found on Pinterest or Instagram, no two gallery walls will be the same when you incorporate your own photos and images into the mix.
We hope we’re really driving home that a little planning goes a long way. Joe likes to take his ideas to the computer. “I use a computer program to approximate the size of each frame on the wall,” he says. “and can move them around the screen as needed to get the best composition.” But don’t worry if you don’t have the programs to do this online. You can also trace all your frames onto brown paper, and tape all the cutouts onto the wall using painter's tape. This brings us to the next step…
Gallery Wall Hanging Tips
If you haven’t traced your frames and cut out these handmade templates, now’s the time to do it. You can use craft paper, wrapping paper or even newspaper depending on the size of your frames. Don’t forget to mark where the hanging hardware is as well!
“Start by taping the largest piece of paper to the wall,” Jess advises. It's important to create a balanced arrangement, whether you’re creating a symmetrical grid or an eclectic spread. Now that your layout is on the wall, you can make adjustments to ensure you don't end up with all vertical frames on one side and horizontal on the other.
“Once you like how it looks, then add nails and hang each frame!” Joe recommends.
Make sure your frames are level and spaced evenly so that nothing distracts from your stunning display. If you need more help hanging your frames, check out our hanging hacks!
We hope these interior designer-approved gallery wall tips help you to create the gallery wall of your dreams. We also lent some of our expert advice to design the perfect gallery. If you have any other questions on getting started or the gallery wall process in general, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We’re looking forward to seeing all the gallery walls you create with our custom frames!
About The Author
Brittany DeMauro is the Creative Director here at CustomPictureFrames.com. With a background in creative writing and a passion for all things DIY, you'll find her in the shop crafting content. She can always find space for a fun gallery wall and loves discovering new artists to display around her home (in custom frames, of course!) When she's not creating content for our brand, she can most likely be found binging shows on Netflix with her two cats.
