DIY Projects for this Gift-Giving Season

Have you completed your Christmas shopping yet? There’s still time for personalized gifts or holiday-themed DIY projects you can make using picture frames from the Victorian Frame Company.

• Framed mirror. Who doesn’t need one more framed mirror? Our online store carries a wide range of choices – oval mirrors, rectangle mirrors and round mirrors – in a variety of designs and finishes. Choose the perfect framed mirror for a friend or loved one! The recipient can place this mirror in a lot of places – the foyer, the bedroom, the living room or just about anywhere.
• Jewelry organizer. Do you have a friend who has a passion for jewelry? Provide her with a way to still enjoy and display her collection even when she’s not wearing it. Take an antique picture frame, remove the glazing, attach a superfine piece of netting or a scrap of strong tulle and attach a plain colored cover on the backing (the better to display the jewelry). Your friend can simply hang her earrings on the mesh. Another variation is to make a hair accessory organizer. Instead of using mesh, just attach some wire from end to end. These strips of wire are where one can hang hair accessories.
• Football jersey frame. This might be the ultimate gift for the sports fanatic. If you can get your hands on a sports jersey of a favorite player or even a jersey that your loved one wore during his varsity stint in college, you can place it in a customized display case. Jersey cases are specially designed frames that often follow the shape of the jersey and provide enough depth for the fabric as well as other memorabilia you want to mount.
• Calendar/planner. For the busy mom who needs to organize the family’s activity schedule, you can make a DIY planner. Simply create a sheet that has slots for each day of the week. If you know the names of the family members, you can also add a grill so that you have a table with the days of the week as columns and the names of the family members as rows. Print this out and frame. Add some colored whiteboard markers and an eraser and your friend has a planner that she could use week after week.
• Traveler’s piggy bank. Do you know of someone who has yet to go on his dream vacation? Encourage him to save up for the trip by giving him a visual reminder of his dream destination and how much he has already saved up. Take a shadow box frame and drill a hole on the top edge of the shadow box big enough to serve as a coin slot. Print a photo of the dream destination – this will serve as the background of the box. Add a few dollars to give your friend a head start on his vacation travel fund.
• Framed wreath. Give your wreath a new take by simply taking an empty frame and adding the wreath in the middle. This serves to accent the wreath. You can also wrap around some Christmas lights around the frame for a sparkly accent.
• Framed heirloom recipes. Here’s a sentimental gift kitchen enthusiast’s will appreciate as it also pays homage to the family meals you enjoyed and the hands that prepared them. If you can get copies of handwritten recipes of well-loved family recipes, you can frame them in vintage picture frames and voila! You have a gift!