Mat Your Print With Fabric..... A Tutorial

What a fabulous weekend we had here in NC.
Sunshine, cool breezes and lots of free time,
most of which I spent getting my newly painted family room and kitchen back together.

My mantle was my main mission, I made it a priority.
After getting all the goodies placed just so, something was still missing
I could see it pefectly in my head, I needed somethng to lean against my mirror, I tried print after print, photo after photo....tray after tray nothing worked.
Frustrated...... I sat down and tried my hand at making my own print.
Well what do you know, that was simple, I printed it out and for a lil' something different I matted it with fabric.
It was very very easy.......and quick and affordable.... let me show you how to do a fast simple fabric matting.

See how cute that is ??
Alright come on...I'll show you how.

Here are the things you will need:
Your print or photo.
Fabric.
Frame with a back.
Oh and grab your glue gun and scissors too.
Take out the back of the frame and lie it down on the fabric.
If your backing has a stand or hanger on it...be sure it's facing up.
Cut around the back leaving oh about an inch and a half of fabric all the way around.
It doesn't have to be straight unless your OCD says it does it does then that's ok too.
Wrap the edges onto the backing and glue.
Pulling it tight as you go....you don't want it loose that will look sloppy.

I did the 2 short edges first then on the long edges I turned the corners in before folding them over and gluing, much like you do when wrapping a gift.

All nice and neat when you are done.

Did you pull it tight....is it loose on the front??

If so you probably want to start over.

Place your print like you want it.

I put a teeny tiny dot of hot glue in each corner. Just a tad now, you don't want it to show thru and lil bit will do it.

Place it back in the frame.

It will be a bit snugger than before because you have added thickenss to the backing.

Finished.

The best part about this is I could customize it to be just what I wanted, I didn't have to search all over town and buy pictures and prints and return them because they didn't work.

There is home decorating goodness to be found in creating your own print let yourself go and try it and the fabric matting adds so much texture and character...it's a whole step above boring ole photo mats for sure.

The mantle I have been working on......with the new bird print....I believe it's a wrap.