Fridge Frame Magnets

You can use new or old products for your fridge frames--I used a combination of both. These make great gifts for new moms to show off how much baby changes each month of that first year.

Materials:

decorative papers, giftwrap, cards, magazine pages, etc.
solid paper or white sticker labels
photo album pages for 5" x 7" photos
self-adhesive magnets or magnets & glue
scissors
glue stick
ruler or other straight edge
heavy paper or cardboard for a pattern
decorative scissors (optional)
paper cutter (optional)

1. Begin by trimming the photo pockets. You'll need 12 to make a year's worth, or make as many as you want for special occasions, vacations and other people.

2. Trace one of the photo pockets onto a piece of heavy paper or cardboard. Cut slightly inside the lines and test to see that it fits inside the pocket. Trim as necessary. This is your pattern.

3. Now build the pages that fit inside the photo pockets. You can cut all of the pieces the same, in diagonals or with corner squares, or make a variety of patterns like ours.

4. Anyone who has been down a scrapbooking paper aisle knows that the sky's the limit in choosing papers. You don't have to use scrapbook paper, either--try pages cut from magazines, leftover giftwrap or greeting cards.

- Think of events that are on schedule for your family in the coming year, like birthdays, graduations, vacations and weddings, or make special photo frames as events occur. You could use some wrapping paper from a special birthday gift to frame a photo of the birthday boy or girl and their special present.

- If you are making the one-a-month pockets, consider papers appropriate for each month. We used snowflake papers for January (figure A), hearts and flowers for February, bright flowers for March and April, honey bears and bees for May, beach papers for June, stars, flags and fireworks for July (figure B), apples and back-to-school papers for August and September, candy corn and pumpkins for October, fall leaves for November, and Christmas plaids and holly papers for December (figure C).

- Use seashell and ocean-theme papers for summer vacation trips, (figure D), fall leaves for autumn events (figure E), and bright florals for spring months (figure F).

- Use baby-themed papers for new moms, or use simple checks or stripes in your kitchen colors to match your decor.

- If you know that someone in your family is graduating in May, you can use graduation-theme papers and put a photo of the family with the proud grad in that month's photo pocket.

- If you make photo frames for special events, try picnic paper for a family picnic photo (figure G), fish paper for your little one's first fishing trip (figure H), and airplane or cloud paper for a first plane trip (figure I).

- Use decorative-edge scissors and cutting techniques to add even more detail to your pages.

5. Once the pages are made, just slip them into the photo sleeves. You might want to slip a piece of scrap cardboard or heavy paper behind the decorative paper to give the entire piece more stability if necessary.

6. Attach the magnets to the back. A small piece of magnet on each corner works best to keep the photo frame flat.

7. If you're making one of these photo frames for each month, write or print a label for each month. Play with different fonts on your computer, write it by hand, or let the kids do it. Also, don't limit yourself to months--write the name of the occasion, the holiday, the names of the people in the photo, or anything you like.