School Holiday Project 19 - Making Styrofoam-Framed Pictures

My niece had the idea to cut frames from Styrofoam and naturally she came to me to do so. While she had visions of an underwater seascape, I wanted to use her idea for a frame to make a flower collage. The idea is a simple one and the possibilities for individualization is endless. The most important thing is to make sure you include a number of skills and mediums so that you will develop your child into a fully rounded artist. Let me show you what the two of us did and which products to use.

Since I only had very thick Styrofoam boards on hand, my cutter would not cut through it. This is why I used my bread knife to cut the Styrofoam and then spent the next half hour trying to clean up the mess!

We used Dala Craft Paint to paint the Styrofoam frames with. I used Burnt Orange and my niece used Warm Red.

Dab the brush into the nooks and crannies of the Styrofoam.

Glue the frame to a coloured paper backing of your choice with Dala Styrofoam Glue. A number of craft glues will eat away/dissolve the Styrofoam. That is why it is important to use a glue that will not react chemically to the Styrofoam.

You can use your craft knife to cut squares and other shapes from some foam rubber sheets. Dala was kind enough to send me one of their craft knives as well as a packet of 10 sheets of foam rubber. I love using their products as it always assures me of great quality.

You could also punch shapes out of the foam rubber.

I used a medium flat brush to paint flower stems in Violet Dala Craft Paint.

I then put blobs of Styrofoam Glue to the backs of my foam rubber squares.

These would form planters for my flowers.

The Styrofoam Glue was used on the backs of my punched out flowers as well.

Try a little variety to keep things interesting.

Some more glue dots were placed in the centers of the flowers.

This time I used a packet of multicolored Rhinestones to create eye catching centers for the flowers.

I added some hand drawn detail to the flower pots with my Sharpie Markers.

Then I used a round brush to paint some detail on the frame with Dala Craft Paint in Duck Egg.

I was fascinated by the packet of Skull Beads I received from Dala. Can you imagine what to do with this? I have a few ideas and I'll share one of these in this blog, but keep watching for more weird and wacky ideas in blogs to come.

I hollowed the corners of the frame out with my Dala Craft Knife.

Then I dropped a dollop of Styrofoam Glue in the holes.

I pushed the skulls into these holes.

I glued some more Dala Rhinestones onto the frame.

I then had a pretty little picture that you can make with just about any child of any age. Fun, isn't it?

My niece was in a mood to draw and used the Sharpie markers extensively. But what child can resist foam rubber, rhinestones and Skull Beads? Not this little creative girl!

She came up with this wonderful underwater sea scene, complete with grotto, treasure chest, spilling gemstones, pirate skull and many more. Notice how she managed to sneak a few of my Dala Pom-Poms into her picture as well!

For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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