Punch Art Frames & Tips

Ribbon Photo Frame

Materials:

photo
art colored paper larger than photo
Family Treasures film strip punch
extra long length of 1/2-inch wide delicate, sheer ribbon
tape

1. Cut an art colored paper frame to fit your photo. The featured project used a rectangular-shaped piece of paper cut larger than the photo around the outside perimeter with the inside cut away to reveal the photo.

2. Place film strip punch upside down on work surface and slide the frame into it, centering the holes of the punch in the center of the frame. Punch the first set of holes. Punch holes all around the frame by moving the punch along the frame lining up the top hole of the punch with the last hole  in the frame. Repeat until the frame has centered holes all the way around it.

3. Cut an extra long length of ribbon. You'll need enough to lace through all the holes in the frame. Wrap a piece of tape on the end of the ribbon and weave it, over two and under one, through the holes in the frame, using the taped end in a needle fashion. Begin weaving at the spot on the frame where you want the ribbon to be tied in a bow. Weaving on the featured project started in the center top of the frame. Once the ribbon is woven into the frame, remove the tape from the end of the ribbon and finish by tying a big bow when the ends of the ribbon meet.

Layered Sunflower Frame Embellishments

Family Treasures punches
  - large and miniature sun punch
  - hat punch
  - large and miniature birch leaf punch
  - large and miniature round punch
  - bow punch
orange, yellow, cream, green and brown paper cut into strips
Mono-Aqua adhesive
framed picture
scissors
tweezers

Steps:

1. Punch out yellow-, orange- and cream-colored suns. Layer two different colors of sun punchouts together to create a dimensional sunflower. Turn the stacked suns so the "petals" of the bottom punchout can be seen peaking through the petals of the top punchout. Glue together. Make as many as desired to embellish the frame.

2. Punch out large brown circles, one for each sunflower. Glue the brown circles onto the center of the sunflower.

3. Punch leaves from the green paper and position on the frame where the flowers will be place. Use two to three leaves per flower. Glue the leaves onto the frame and position the flower on top of them. Glue to secure.

4. Make a sun hat by punching yellow paper with the hat punch. Use scissors to cut a hat brim, then glue it on to the hat. Punch four miniature suns and layer them to create tiny sunflowers as in step 1, gluing as you go along. Punch two miniature circles for the center of the sunflowers, position and glue. Punch miniature leaves. Position the leaves and sunflowers on the brim of the sun hat using tweezers and glue. Punch out a bow from the yellow paper and glue it to the back of the hat as a finishing touch.

Punching Tips:

• Embellish gift wrap with punchouts. Wrap the package in an pearled or iridescent white paper. Punch out shapes and adhere them to the wrapped package. Wrap over the package with vellum to soften the look. Finish with a sheer bow (figure A).
• Get creative with gift bags, lunch bags, luminaria bags and more using punches (figure B). The trick is to keep the bag folded and flat while punching. Punch through both sides at the same time, building the design as you go. You can purchase long-reach punches if you want to punch further in on the bag.

• When punching for scrapbook pages, trying punching elements from photographs (figure C). For instance, if you're punching clouds, use photographs of clouds to make the punchouts. If you're punching grass, use photos of grass. If you're punching trees, punch from photographs of trees. You get the idea!
• Rearrange common shapes in patterns to make special wall displays. This quilted look was created using only a star and rectangle punch and several hues of paper mounted on a black background (figure D).

• Try a layering and cutting technique to add interest to scrapbook pages. Punch several colors or patterns of paper at one time. Stack the punchouts, then cut them into sections (all at the same time) and rebuild them on the page using different colors for each design as seen in these hearts (figure E). The stitch lines seen on the hearts were added with a fine-tip marker.
• Color coordinate paper colors with photographs you're working with. With this simple trick, you can use the same design over and over again but get different effects by varying the color combinations (figure F).

• When punching a design inside of a design, begin with the smaller, inside design first. This technique can be used to create paper "buttons," which can be mounted on complementary background circles then used to embellish scrapbook pages and more (figure G).