Grandparents, aunties and uncles and godparents always love to get photos of their favourite children. Nice frames can be expensive to buy and impersonal too. Why not get your children to help you create some frames with bits and pieces you have lying around your house? You will all have great fun doing it and will produce fun little frames that will be especially treasured because the kids had a hand in making them. Be warned – this craft is addictive!

Empty CD boxes
Scissors and glue
Craft supplies and household bits and pieces (see suggestions below)

We always seem to have empty CD boxes lying around – and if you don’t, you can buy them very cheaply at computer or record stores. Some people know them as jewel cases.

Open your CD box and take out the paper inserts and the molded plastic piece into which the CD itself fits.

Cut your photo to just smaller than the box. You will be fitting it into the back of the box with the hinged edge at the top, so about 4 inches wide and 4 ¾ inches high is perfect, but don’t worry too much! Fix the photo against the plastic with a few small pieces of sticky-tape. Find a nice piece of cardboard, gift wrap or fun foam which will complement your design and cut this to fit snugly behind the photo and to the edges of the frame (4 ¾ inches wide, 5 ¼ inches high). Fix with glue or sticky-tape with the pattern, if any, facing into the box. When your frame is finished you will open the box out to stand it up, so this backing protects your photo.

Now all you need to do is draw a line of glue on the outside edges of the front of the CD box and start decorating! Use whatever you have to hand. You can build on the theme of the photo, the season, or the particular interests of the recipient. Our examples above are obviously on a Christmas theme.

This craft reprinted courtesy of Activity Village.