Frame Destination

Year after year, people haul out the same holiday decorations from the attic, basement, or storage — garlands, candles, bows and other knickknacks that have probably seen better days. This year, instead of relying on those ho-hum decorations, make your own fresh and inviting holiday décor with picture frames.

Door Wreath

Photo: A Diamond in the Stuff

Hanging a wreath on your door is a time-honored tradition, but you’ll see the same evergreen-and-berry theme on almost every door in the neighborhood. Make a unique statement with your door by creating a framed Christmas wreath instead — and all you need is a frame, ornaments and some ribbon.

You can paint your frame any color you like, but even a plain white or wood will work. Simply thread the ribbon through the ornaments and tie around the top of the frame. In just a few minutes, you have a creative “wreath” that is ready to welcome your visitors in style!

Picture Frame Snowman

Create a cute little picture frame snowman to greet your guests! To create this friendly fellow, you’ll need a few items: three differently sized picture frames (large, medium and small, preferably already white), black felt, white thread, burlap, paint, twine, a glue gun, a hat and mittens.

First, if you want a more rustic, shabby chic look, use some sandpaper to lightly scuff the picture frames. Paint a face on one of the burlap squares — two eyes, a carrot nose and a mouth – and insert into the smallest of the frames. To make the buttons, cut three or four circles from the black felt and sew a small X into the center; alternatively, you can draw or paint the white X. Attach the buttons to the two other pieces of burlap and insert into the medium and large frames.

Stack the frames on top of each other, securing with glue. Tie the mittens with twine and attach to the middle medium-sized picture frame, and add a dab of glue to the smallest picture frame to attach the hat.

Chalkboard Countdown

A chalkboard countdown to Christmas is the perfect craft for those with children who are just brimming with excitement for the holidays. If you already have a chalkboard laying around with a frame that has seen better days, freshen it up and build your own unique frame from Frame Destination in just about any size! Or buy a chalkboard blank and simply fit it into a frame — decorate it however you like — and use colored chalk to write your personal holiday countdown message.

Frames for the Table

The holiday meal is the center of it all — it’s where the family gathers to enjoy each other’s company and good food. If you’ve broken out the fine china for the occasion, add a touch more class and create a menu: simply type up the appetizers, main course and all the side dishes (choosing the right font, of course!) and print it out. You could use cardstock and lay on one each place setting, but instead of spending money on expensive paper, just frame it and place in the center of the table. If your décor is bright and cheery, try one of these sleek metal frames in several trendy holiday colors — including festive red, green, blue and silver — or go for a classic and stylish look with the avant-garde wood frame in either silver or gold.

Alternatively, personalized place cards will also take the confusion out of the seating arrangements, and the miniature frames can act as take-home gifts for your guests after the festivities.

Holiday Card Holder

If you’ve got a lot of family and friends, the chances are high that you will receive countless cards — but you may not have the perfect place to display them. Grab your favorite frame and remove the contents so that you are left with the moulding only. Using hot glue, attach string horizontally within the frame. With small, decorative clips, you can hang your holiday cards — and keep your mantel clear of clutter.

There are a number of ways to decorate your home for the holidays — so grab a picture frame and start getting crafty for Christmas!

If you’re an artist, you know what you like to use in your craft: the paintbrushes, canvases, paint and other art supplies that make your art yours. Around the holidays, you may get the same art supplies year after year, none of which may be suited to your work. While it’s thoughtful, gift-givers may not know what is actually the best gift for artists and photographers.

Professional Picture Frames

It seems as though artists and photographers would have dozens of frames laying around for their work, but it may not be the case — they are often too busy finding new clients, creating art, retouching photos and making prints to order the frames in which their artwork will live. Artists that sell their work will appreciate a set of professional ready-made picture frames to get them started in the new year. If you’re not sure which types of frames they like, buy a gift card to let them shop for frames themselves.

Cozy Photography Gloves

Usually a standard holiday gift, gloves for photographers are actually of a different breed than your typical chunky mittens. Photographers need their dexterity and the use of their fingertips, and thick gloves, while warm, don’t allow them to take shots or use their equipment exactly the way they want.

Gloves for photographers should be snug but not restrictive and allow photographers to use their fingers on touchscreens and tiny buttons without having to take the gloves on and off. Some photography gloves can flip open to reveal fingertips, but others, such as the Freehands Power Stretch gloves, have touchscreen-capable fingertips.

Colorful Pantone Water Bottle

Perfect for the graphic designers in your life, this stainless steel water bottle comes in five official Pantone colors, including Pantone’s Color of the Year 2017: “Greenery.” Whether they’re sitting behind their desk creating art or out on the road, creatives will love the subtlety of this grab-and-go style water bottle. The color standards company has also created a set of ornaments to jazz up your Christmas tree, and with eight available colors, you can pick one for each family member.

3D Printing Pen

The 3Doodler printing pen doesn’t replace regular pens — primarily because it’s not a typical pen. The 3Doodler is like a freehand 3D printer, allowing you to draw in the air and create a 3D shapes, scale models and miniatures. The 3Doodler is available in three models, including the 3Doodler Start, which is geared towards children; Create, which is primarily used by hobbyists; and Pro, the most advanced model for professional architects, engineers, artists and designers. Artists that have typically stuck to two-dimensional drawing and painting can easily transition to 3D modeling and sculpting — and they may even find a new passion!

Drones for Photography

Drones are one of the trendiest and most popular gift items for anyone, not just artists, and they can open up a whole new world of opportunity for photographers. Drones allow you to soar through the sky and take awe-inspiring shots of the world below or simply discover an angle you’ve never experienced before. Starting at $500 and up, a drone is a gift for someone particularly special in your life — and it’s guaranteed to put a smile on their face.

If you’ve got an illustrator, painter, photographer, graphic designer or creative in your family or circle of friends, give them a gift they will use and cherish all year long. And if you ARE an illustrator, painter, photographer, graphic designer or creative, make sure to get the gifts you really want by sharing this list when dropping hints this holiday.

The GalleryPouch™ bubble bag was designed and created with art in mind: it has the perfect size, shape and durability to protect picture frames, canvas gallery wraps and rolled prints. An optional Velcro® closure ensures that everything stays inside, so your artwork stays safe no matter where it goes.

The GalleryPouch™ bubble bag has proven to have many other great uses, from the practical to the artsy, so pick up a few extra bubble bags and get started on some unique, creative crafts or ingenious solutions to everyday problems.

Get your art supplies and tools travel-ready.

GalleryPouch™ bubble bags with Velcro® are a great way to safely transport your art supplies while traveling. Lay out your supplies after placing them in one or more paintbrush/paint holders, caddies, storage bins, etc., and measure the overall length, width, and depth of the items. Using the bubble bags with Velcro® ensures that even your tiniest paint brushes or drawing and photo tools will stay safe and secure within the bag.

Protect tablets, laptops and more on the go.

Tablets, laptops, smartphones, and monitors are now everyday items that are commonly used — and commonly broken, the most frequent damage being a cracked screen. Even when using a tablet case or laptop skin, which can be expensive, tablets and laptops may not survive being tossed in a briefcase, backpack or purse. Add small bits of dust or dirt can easily find their way into exposed ports. Add extra protection with a GalleryPouch™ bubble bag, which will prevent keys, pens and other items from scratching and cracking them on the go. This applies to phones and sunglasses, too!

Pack breakables when moving.

When moving to a new home or office, packing breakable items such as plates, glasses and delicate items can be the most time-consuming task of them all. Instead of cutting large sheets of bubble wrap to size or using paper, use GalleryPouch™ bubble bags. Plates can slide right inside, and you can even order bags made to fit particularly large platters or oddly-shaped vases. Unlike most sheets of bubble wrap that have been cut and crumbled paper, you can reuse the bubble bags later.

Store delicate and beloved holiday décor.

Art or decorations that you only bring out of storage for special occasions such as Christmas, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are often cherished items, many of which are fragile. Store ornaments, centerpieces and handmade decorations in sturdy bubble bags to ensure that you can keep them around for years to come.

Get creative with bubble wrap.

Once your bubble bag has served its purpose, there are dozens of crafty ways to use the last of it. With the kids, cut out shapes such as circles and stars from the bubble wrap to use as stamps, or just drop blocks in the bag and tie shut. But you don’t even need to cut the bubble wrap — just use it as a stamp to make your own interesting shapes and textures.

You can also paint on the bubble bag itself to create unique decorations with the kids. This Thanksgiving, cut out a corncob-shaped piece of bubble bag and paint or color the bubbles yellow (or a collection of brown, orange and white). After it dries, staple or tie a “husk” to one end, and you have instant Thanksgiving-themed décor: a bubble-bag corncob.

There are more uses to the GalleryPouch™ bubble bag than just professionally storing artwork. Use a bubble bag during travel, to store your valuables, or do crafts with the kids — and get the most out of this innovative, durable material.

Fall is in the air, and with it comes one of nature’s greatest art shows: the changing colors of the leaves. People from all over the country plan trips to visit some of the most beautiful areas for fall foliage, armed with cameras and an appreciation for the outdoors.
While you can certainly frame your favorite shots of the leaves and trees, you can also take a piece of this natural artwork home —the leaves themselves — to preserve and frame instead.

How to Preserve Leaves

First, select the leaves you want to frame. Simply look around the forest floor to find some specimens; if all the leaves on the ground are damaged or rotting, pick a few from the trees. Leaves should be in perfect condition, with no insect bites, tears or curling. While collecting, make sure you have something to store them in, such as a sturdy plastic container, or they may get damaged. Once home, gently clean the leaves by brushing off any dirt and removing any lingering moisture from the forest floor.

Press and Dry Leaves

The most common way to preserve leaves at home is simply by pressing them under a heavy object, but it’s important to use the right materials. Lay the leaves flat on absorbent paper or newspaper, and place another sheet on top of it. Lay a flat, heavy item on top, such as a stack of books, and simply wait for them to dry, about a week or longer.

You can also get a little more professional and create a plant press. Top pieces of corrugated cardboard with newspapers and blotting paper to create a sort of sandwich — this way, you can stack leaves on top of one another, in between the cardboard and newspapers. At the top of the press, use bricks or heavy books to add the necessary weight.

Give Leaves a Glycerin Bath

Instead of drying out the leaves, you can preserve them with glycerin, which keeps them pliable instead of brittle, which occurs when pressing and drying them. Note that the glycerin will affect the colors of the leaves, with yellows doing the best; red and orange may take on a brownish hue.

Mix two parts hot water and one part glycerin, which you can find at pharmacies, health stores and online, in a wide pan deep enough to submerge the leaves. Lay the leaves in the pan and pour the solution over them. Remove after about three to four days, or when the leaves feel supple.

You can also use this method to preserve whole branches with leaves attached. Crush the ends of the branches with a hammer and stand them upright in a bucket with the solution. This method takes a little longer, about two to six weeks.

How to Frame Pressed Leaves

To frame leaves in a traditional way, you need all the supplies in a standard framing package: the frame, mat board, backing board and glazing. Simply attach the leaf or leaves to the backing board with acid-free adhesive, lay the mat board on top, and frame like any other print. Wood frames are a great choice to frame fall foliage, as their natural material complement the leaves.

Framing leaves offers more opportunity to get creative: instead of framing a single leaf, ditch the mat board and make a collage of leaves. Create a beautiful ombré effect, in which colors gradually blend from one to another, by arranging green, yellow, orange and red leaves, or your favorite combination.

If you’re not worried about preserving the leaves indefinitely and just want a temporary décor piece, a popular method of framing leaves is to sandwich it between two pieces of glass or acrylic. This is generally not recommended by framers, since putting artwork in direct contact with any surface besides the backing board can damage the artwork. An alternative is to mount the leaves onto the rear glazing and use spacers to separate the top glazing, but moisture can get trapped inside.

However, if you’re looking for seasonal design piece, it’s fairly simple to do. You’ll just need a frame, two acrylic or glass sheets and frame spacers. Securing the leaves to the rear glazing may not be entirely necessary, but a small strip of acid-free tape can help keep everything in place.

There are endless ways to display and frame fall leaves that lets you enjoy their beauty all year round instead of waiting for those few, fleeting weeks each year.

The introduction of digital cameras slowed a big part of the photography industry. Gone are the days of bringing rolls of film to the local shop to get them developed, and those bulky Polaroid cameras now gather dust in the closet.

But Polaroid cameras have recently been coming out of storage. Over the past few years, the company has been busy capitalizing on the recent hype for nostalgic cameras and the instant printing capabilities of its most famous product.

There have been several new instant cameras on the market, including the Fujifilm Instax, Lomography’s Lomo'Instant and, of course, Polaroid’s own line of Originals. With instant film so popular, there are now once again hundreds of these small, square-shaped photographs laying around — and your favorites should be preserved and displayed the right way.

How Instant Film Works

Unlike traditional photography, instant film has all it needs inside the camera itself. This is also why the film is more expensive than standard film — you are skipping the need for additional photographic paper, chemicals and a darkroom or a professional printer.

An instant photograph is produced when an image is projected onto a film substrate that already contains the chemicals required to develop the photograph; it’s like a mini darkroom. There are a number of different chemicals used depending on the manufacturer and the type of photograph (e.g. color or black and white), but the film generally contains the same three components: a positive sheet, a negative sheet and the chemicals, which are usually enclosed in one of the sheets in a pod. In those early-days Polaroids, they were at the thick end of the final photograph — where most people wrote down what was in the image.

Once the image is taken, the film is passed through rollers that simultaneously break open the pod containing the chemicals and press the sheets together. The chemicals are spread throughout the film, and the image develops in about one minute. Older Polaroids required that the user apply a coating after the film develops, but the book Storing, Handling and Preserving Polaroid Photographs mentions coating the photo with a type of lacquer to minimize oxygen exposure even with “coaterless” film. Since that book hasn’t been updated since 1983, however, it’s best to leave the coating off.

Preserving Instant Photographs

Just like standard photographs and prints, instant film can suffer the same damage as standard film. However, a little more care should be taken when handling the still-developing film — according to Polaroid, the more closely the photographer followed the instructions, the longer the photo will last.

Tip: Shaking the photo does not help a Polaroid develop faster. In fact, it could actually damage the developing photograph!

Before and just after the photograph develops, there are few things you should definitely not do to ensure the longevity of your final images:

Do not stack or handle just-processed film.
Do not press on the chemical pod in the film.
Do not cut or bend photographs.
Do not open film until ready to use.
Do not remove the (often white) border along the photograph. It serves to protect the image from airborne contaminants.
Do not use staples or paperclips on the photograph.

Aside from those specific rules, the standard photography preservation practices apply: keep the photos away from light, heat and moisture; most organizations maintain that Polaroids will fade in as just as much time as conventional photographs. Store the photographs in a cool, dry and dark place, such as in an acid-free photo box in print sleeves in the basement or bedroom (the attic becomes far too hot). Make sure that you do not store traditional photos or paper items such as newspaper or photocopies in direct contact with instant film, as the chemicals can interact and damage the instant photograph.

Displaying Instant Photos: How to Frame a Polaroid

You can frame instant photographs just like you would any other print, taking care to choose the right UV-filter glass or UV-filter acrylic glazing if you plan on keeping the photo around for a while. There are a few ways to do the framing itself, such as float mounting. With this technique, the instant photographs can get a little bit of added whimsy, highlighting the telltale border instead of hiding it.

You could also use the white border of the frame as the “mat board”, and frame right up until those borders for a more intimate framing style. Because Polaroids have that thicker edge at the bottom, you can also mimic the popular bottom-weighted or museum mat board style with just the Polaroid itself. For more emphasis, include a wide-edged single or double mat board, placing the photograph inside.

If you’d rather put your instant photographs on display in a more creative way, such as hung from twine and clips, there are tons of ways to do so. But keep in mind that unlike digital photographs, there is only one copy of that photograph — and no negative to print it again. Once the photograph is damaged or lost, it is gone forever. Make sure that those moments you capture are ones that you don’t mind reminiscing about only in your memory — otherwise, opt for a frame!

There’s nothing like getting together with some like-minded people and professionals, so we’re hitting the road and heading from Dallas to New York City, where we’ll be among the thousands of people attending (and exhibiting!) at the PDN PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo. Come visit us at booth 671 at the Javits Convention Center from October 25–28, 2017, for a chat with us and have a look at what we’ve got.

Because our customers are part of the Frame Destination family, you can get a free PhotoPlus badge for the expo and a 15% discount on conference passes. Take care to get to the expo early to make sure you receive your free swag bag!

The PhotoPlus Expo, organized by the long-running, respected trade publication Photo District News, has attracted thousands of photographers and imaging professionals since it launched in 1983. Over four days, dozens of keynotes and conferences sessions will discuss the latest innovations in photography and video tech and techniques, while master classes help good photographers and videographers become even better. During it all, hundreds of big brands and smaller exhibitors will show off their products and services.

Last year, over 19,000 people from 64 countries attended the expo and more than 200 exhibited — Frame Destination included — and we are proud to join this international expo once again. We hope to see you there!

Learn more about the PhotoPlus Expo and get your free PhotoPlus badge.