Folding a Box Frame

Have you ever made something that you would love to see in a frame, but it simply did not warrant the expense of a professional frame. Today I show you how to fold a box frame from cardboard. These are brilliant to display the kids' art or your own crafts. On a smaller scale they can also be used with great success on the outside of cards. You can even lay them down flat, attach a bottom, and use them as discard-able servers for sweets and chips. The possibilities are endless!

To fold this box frame I use a sheet of cardboard of A3 size. When the frame is folded it will be able to hold a picture of A5 size (half A4). The reason it folds to such a small size is because I fold rather bold and wide frames. Reducing these will assist in creating more space inside the frame.

All of the flaps are 2 cm wide. The depth of the frame is 3 cm and the width of the frame is 2,5 cm. The inside of the frame measures 12 cm x  15 cm.  These lines form the outline of the box frame and you can copy them as is, or adjust the sizes to fit your own needs.

Here is a close-up of the measurements for the outline of the box frame.

An even closer-up view of the measurements.

The inside of the frame needs to be cut differently on the two halves of the frame. This is the left half.

A close-up view of the inside measurements of the left half.

A close-up view of the measurements of the right half's inside.

The complete view of the inside of the frame on the right side.

The frame is cut out with a pair of scissors and a combination of a craft knife, a metal ruler and a cutting mat.

I use an embossing tool to score indents in the fold lines. This makes it much easier to fold neat lines. Alternatively, you can fold the box over your ruler.

Fold all along the fold lines. All of the lines fold to the inside, making it unnecessary to erase them.

Apply glue to the right sides of the flaps. Alternatively, you can use double-sided tape.

Fold the flaps in to the inside of the box and secure the sides with either tape or glue.

I grabbed an A4 picture lying close at hand and put it behind the frame to give you an idea of what it would like. The frame will fit an A5 sized picture.

These glass pebbles were lying close at hand as well and I quickly arranged them on the frame to give you an idea of how easy it would be to decorate the versatile frame with a variety of embellishments, using Tombow glue.

For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by email by simply registering your email address at the top of the current blog.