Paper Frames? Paper Frames!

So I’m looking on all these photo blogs and graphic artists everywhere are trying to get you to buy the next big thing…virtual frames that look like they are made from vintage wallpapers or really cool grunge textures.  Some people were selling them for quite a bit of money, actually.  Hmm…I like the look but do I really want to pay for something that surely I can make myself?

Off I went to Joann’s Fabrics where they have a huge selection of printed paper that you can buy by the sheet.  (Pay attention to the ads and you can get most of them for as low as 20 cents a piece.)  I bought about 48 of them, brought them home, photographed them, imported them into Photoshop and sized them up, tweaked their contrast or color and voila!  Virtual photo frames.  And it didn’t cost me hundreds of dollars.  In fact, it barely cost me $20.

I’m sure I’ll use these mostly for portraits of children and what not but here’s an example of what I’m talking about. 

Craft stores…if you know what’s there you can find all kinds of ways to embelish your photography.