Halloween Altered Printers Tray Frame

Hi Ya'll,

Are you ready for fall? Have all your Halloween decorations out?

There's always room for MORE Holiday decor right? And if you have kiddos, grand-kiddos, or furr-babies that costume-up for Halloween why not incorporate pics of them into a special project. 

Halloween was one of the holidays I enjoyed the most when my kids were little. I couldn't wait to take them to the fabric store to pick out a pattern for whatever they wanted to dress up as that year.

And of course, there HAD to be a photo shoot of them in their costumes before they went out trick-or-treating. Looking back through the photos from some of those years, I thought it would be fun to show them off in a Halloween project. 

I decided to use one of Clear Scraps Printers Tray Frames; they come in several different shapes and configurations. I chose the Square Printers Tray Frame which has 9 equal sections.

I selected the photos I wanted to use and printed them in sepia as that went well with the vintage look of the papers I wanted to use. 

I started by laying one of the grid chipboard pieces on the solid back and used a pencil to mark around each section. I prefer to adhere the pictures and papers directly to the back piece of the frame. 

Next I worked on planning the layout. I first laid out my photos, then began adding papers and embellishments. 

Once I decided on the design, I began adhering the photos, papers and embellishments to the frame base, using the penciled areas as guides. Check placement by laying a grid chipboard piece over the base.

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I planned to add some of my embellishments over the grid, so I needed to cut away the grid insert from one of the frame pieces to use as the top layer.

To add color to the frame, I sprayed it with a black spray ink, and dabbed the excess with a paper towel. This step was done to one of the grid pieces as well as the piece I had removed the grid from. The pieces were set aside to dry.

I wanted to incorporate some pumpkins in the frame. I used the 3 X 12 Pumpkin Faces Border Stencil to trace pumpkins on printed paper. The eyes and mouths were filled in and the grooves in the pumpkin were darkened using a black pen. A white gel pen was used to add definition to the eyes and mouths.

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I adhered 2 of the grid layers to the base; adding the inked one last.

I added the elements that were to be adhered across the grids. Then I removed the protective film from both sides of the acrylic sheet and adhered it to the frame.

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The chipboard piece I had cut the grid out of was adhered last to finish the frame.

I hope this project has inspired you to do something special with pics of YOUR costumed characters!

SUPPLIES:

Clear Scraps: Square Printers Tray Frame and 3 X 12 Pumpkin Faces Border Stencil

Other: Beacon Adhesives: Zip Dry, Printed Papers and Embellishments, Black Spray Ink, Orange Glitter Pen, White Gel Pen and Black Fine Tip Pen