DIY: Making Custom Sized Mats for Frames

Happy Monday!

I had such an amazing weekend filled with great dinners, friends, family, some exercise, shopping, an Apple iPad...and a lazy Sunday. Doesn't get much better than that!

I wasn't as productive around the house as I wanted to be,  but I did manage to do a small project and get started on my wall gallery!

Remember when I did a post on these great ocean life drawings, on dictionary paper from The DreameryStudio I purchased for my basement, well I decided to frame them finally. Only one thing, they were a weird size, and if I used the standard 8x10 mat the drawings would get cut off. So I set off to make my own...

First I bought three inexpensive frames (third frame not pictured) from Michael's on clearance for $2.99

 

Next, I bought some dark slate linen craft paper from Michael's at $0.69 per sheet.

Then I cut the craft paper to the size of my frame:

Next, I decided how wide I wanted my mat to be. After measuring the exact size of the drawings, I chose to make my mat 1.25 inches around. I drew a border and then used an exacto knife and ruler to make cut my mat straight.

Look how great the slate mat's look inside my cheap Michael's frames! And by creating a custom sized mat, I didn't have to sacrifice any of my drawings!

I put one frame on our shelf. (NOTE: this became the coral frame because 1 of the 3 exactly-the-same frames ended up being smaller once we hung it on the wall?!?!)

And the other two on this blank wall.

Super easy! I plan on making a couple custom mats for my gallery wall. I think a patterned mat would look cool.

Speaking of my gallery wall, here is a sneak peek. So far we have gathered all of the extra frames we had lying around our house to make it as eclectic as possible. Then we evaluated and decided what type of frames we still needed...these included the various shapes such as the oval frame in the top right, and the small sizes scattered throughout. Do you see that super ugly frame on the right? The frame is actually beautiful, it's the weird manila paper sans mat that is brutal to look at. This is where I think I'll make a burlap mat. I'll save the patterned mats for the smaller frames. (NOTE: if you are switching out mats and not creating a custom size, no need to measure. Simply trace your mat onto your paper and then cut.)

Have a great week.