J has been having a little trouble leaving Mommy lately. A friend and I swap toddlers each Friday so we can take turns volunteering at the elementary school. We've got a great system worked out, and J ultimately has fun playing with his little toddler friend, but he gets pretty upset when I leave him. My friend suggested I leave a photo with him. Great idea! I thought, but how can I protect it so he can hold it?I looked around my craft desk and came up with a plan for a plastic-covered, double-sided photo frame, with the edges wrapped in felt. Very secure and toddler-friendly, so he can love all over it and it will stay intact.
Instructions:
- Sandwich a piece of sturdy cardboard between two photos. The cardboard should be the same size as your photos.
- Attach photos to cardboard. I use these handy little adhesive tabs, but you can use any photo-safe adhesive.
- Find some sturdy, but flexible plastic. I used an old clear envelope. A sheet of acetate would probably work well, too.
- Cut two pieces of plastic slightly larger than your photos. Mine are about 1/2" larger on each side to allow for glue and later stitching.
- Place your photo sandwich on one piece of plastic.
- Run a bead of strong craft glue all around the edge of the plastic. I avoided getting any glue on my photo, because I wanted to be able to disassemble the frame later, if necessary. You may not have to be so careful.
- Clamp edges with little binder clips, clothespins, bag clips...whatever you have.
- Allow to dry several hours or overnight.
- When dry, remove clamps.
- Cut felt into long strips, wide enough to wrap around the edge of the plastic and reach your photo (so you don't see the clear plastic edges).
- Stitch felt to plastic as desired. I went for a rustic, handmade look with a simple running stitch. I did this by hand. I made my stitches quite large--if the stitches are too close together, the plastic may tear like a sheet of perforated paper.
- Miter corners by folding and stitching. (See below.) This is similar to a quilt binding, but not quite the same. I had to play with it a bit.
- Alternately, for those with a sewing aversion, you could just use more glue to attach the felt.
