Father's Day Frame

I posted a Father's Day Class last month, with a tie-shaped box and a shirt-shaped card...which you can see HERE. The third project for the class was a chipboard coaster frame, which I'll display now, since Father's Day is just a little over 10 days away! The outside of the frame, when it's closed, is pictured above. It's two 4"x4" chipboard coasters, covered with Olive Press Designer Series Paper (DSP), and tied together with Old Olive Poly Twill Ribbon. A "sleeve" has been wrapped around the frame, to hold it closed for gift-giving. In the picture below, you can see how the frame looks once it's open.

I used a Stampin' Up! Font CD to print the journaling onto Old Olive card stock. The idea is that the frame is self-standing once the striped "sleeve" is slid off, and the coasters are opened at an angle. So, Dad can take the frame to his office and easily display it on his desk, or the edge of a nearby shelf.

TUTORIAL: You can make your own frame using scrap pieces of chipboard, but I chose heavy (2mm) rounded-corner square chipboard coasters for durability. Lighter chipboard is going to more easily bend and/or blow over. The first thing I did to my coaster is optional--I colored the edges with a Basic Brown journaler marker. I used the journaler instead of the regular marker because the journaler contains pigment ink, which is fade resistant and waterproof. That way, if Dad sets the frame down in some drops of water (or coffee), the ink won't run.

The next thing you'll need to do is cover BOTH sides of each piece of chipboard with stamping or patterned paper. I chose the Olive Press Designer Series Paper (DSP), and adhered 4"x4" square pieces with the Stampin' Up!® Glue Stick, covering both the back of the paper, and the front of the chipboard with the glue, and taking care to get the glue all the way out to all of the edges. The picture below shows two different patterns from the Olive Press DSP pack, but you'll want to cover the front of each of the coasters with the same paper, and the back of each of the coasters with the same alternate pattern of paper. That way, your frame has the same pattern on front and back when it's closed, and the same pattern on both pieces inside when it's opened.

Once your glue is dry, you'll want to take a Sanding Block and sand away any excess paper from the edges of the chipboard, to make it flush. If your coasters have rounded corners, you'll sand away the paper at the edges and the paper will then be rounded, too! Once you're finished sanding, you're ready to punch some holes in your coasters, to tie them together. Use the eyelet template from the Crafter's Tool Kit to evenly measure 3/8" holes in the coasters, to punch out with the Crop-A-Dile. You'll then string ribbon through each of these holes and tie in a square knot to "hinge" the coasters together. Pay attention to the picture below with the coasters tied together--you will want to make sure you punch your holes so that the same pattern of paper is showing when you open your frame up flat.

The rest is pretty much self-explanatory. I cut two pieces of Chocolate Chip Textured card stock to 3-1/2"x3-1/2" and rounded the corners, and layered them inside the frame. Because my pictures had a lot of brown in them, I cut a layer of Old Olive card stock for contrast on each photo mat, to 3-1/8" square, and rounded the corners, then placed my 3"x3" photos on there (after rounding their corners, as well).

For the "sleeve" I just wrapped a strip of 2-1/4"x11" wide card stock around the frame, then adhered the sleeve to itself with Sticky Strip, and adhered a strip of 2"x12" DSP over that with SNAIL. I stamped the Happy Dad's Day greeting in Old Olive on Very Vanilla card stock and trimmed it out with scissors. (the Designer Label Punch will cut this out perfectly, but it doesn't leave any contrasting border area) I then layered the greeting onto a piece of Chocolate Chip Textured card stock which had been punched out with the Round Tab Punch, and put that on the sleeve.

This is a super easy gift that would be great for all types of occasions, and it's sure to be treasured and displayed for many years by its recipient.