Monday Funday! DIY Framing and Matting Cheat: A budget friendly creative project to start off the week.

Welcome back to the workweek, for those of you working! It's back to reality, and that can really damper your spirits after a fabulous weekend of recreation and fun. But as Amy Poehler shows you above (you may have noticed I love that woman), it's all about the attitude you take. You can either dread Mondays, or conquer it like the beast it is!

You're MINE, Monday! 

To start off the week, I contemplated doing a snack or meal tutorial but I think I'll start with a way to cut spending on home decor. We've all seen the oodles of DIY available on the internet these days; DIY shirt revamps, milk crate stools, pallet shelves, curtains. One I actually never found and just sort of figured out on my own out of necessity was DIY framing art. My husband and I have a small apartment and have begun redecorating our apartment to a more grown up style. IE, we are no longer taping posters to the wall like we're in a college dorm. We've been here for three years, and by god, we might as well start making it look like it. Over the past few months, we've gotten rid of a lot of clutter and began framing art that has been sitting in anticipation for a glass encased home for years. Poor things.

Brian and I are both huge movie fanatics and watch all types of films, but we're both very drawn to visual films and children's movies. One reason is because there's so much drama and sadness in real life that I can't handle watching much of it on TV. And the other reason is because Brian loves animation and pencils and inks his own comics, so he's constantly watching and learning from movies. A few years back we went to a flea market and found a vintage Black Cauldron poster for ten dollars. It had cardboard on the back and was covered with plastic, and for two years, that was how it was displayed in the house. It slowly drove me crazy until I finally bit the bullet and went to Michael's to have it framed.

The end result! Low quality picture, high quality framing.

Now, I went in to Michael's with a 60% off custom framing coupon...SIXTY percent off. And guess how much this cost me? First, I was quoted at $147.00. 

With sixty percent off that seemed utterly ridiculous. Apparently it was that high because of the custom size of the frame (18"X 30") and the non glare high quality glass. I told her to take that shit off pronto, I could handle the glare. That brought it down to $100. Now look at that frame. I literally asked for the most basic black frame, and simple matting. The matting was quite cheap so I was okay with the two layers. I knew, however, that I was not going to be able to afford framing another picture that had been patiently waiting for a frame. 

My lovely mother got me a $50 gift card to Michael's for Christmas and I took the opportunity to check out the possibilities of framing and matting the piece myself. I went and looked at all of the frames, and color me lucky, there was a 55% off sale on this one brand of frames. I managed to get a 20" X 30" frame over half off (it was originally $55)! Next was finding the matting. Now, Michaels has oodles of matting in a lot of great colors, but unfortunately it's mostly for 8"X10" pictures. I managed to find some additional large sheets of matting at the framing counter in the back and picked a deep turquoise color for the matting for $15. With the discounted price of the frame, my total cost came to $47, and with the gift card it was FREEEEE!!! 

I went home and had Brian help me cut the matting. Honestly, it is NOT easy. We used an exacto knife, a box cutter and scissors, and fortunately the frame hides the edges because it looked rough. Hey, it was our first time. ALSO, we cheated and simplified the process by not cutting the interior of the matting and taping to the back of that, but using double sided tape and taping the piece lightly to the matting in the front.  For our first try, I was pretty happy. Here's the end result! 

Wheee! Pretty! 

That's all there is to it!

Step 1: pick your frame - preferably on sale, or better yet, clearance!

Step 2: pick your matting color 

Step 3: use an exacto knife or box cutter to trim your matting to the right size to fit in the frame.
Tip: The frame we got had a piece of cardboard that was the right size in the frame. We traced that on to the back of the matting to guide our cutting. 

Step 4: Center the picture on to your matting, use double sided tape on the top edge to hold the piece in place.
Step 5 Place the matting and photo into the frame. Voila!

Again, I know the picture quality is rough, but to show you the two side by side, could you tell which one was done professionally? 

And there you have it! Keep an eye out for frame sales and you can save oodles of cash! And yes, those are Justice League and Star Wars action figures between the art. It's the compromise my husband and I have made in style...

Happy Monday and have a great start to the week!