I love picture frames, vintage art and the maximalism art movement. Any maximalists out there?

This is how I made a Halloween picture frame collage with dollar store picture frames and free printable art.

Supplies

Daiso! I live in Japan and there’s a Daiso on every corner. They sell these really nice “antique design” frames in different sizes, and I started here.

SUPPLIES

-frames

-primer

-paint

-white dust medium or white paint (for dry brushing)

-free printable vintage Halloween images (Thank you Remodelaholic!)

-hot glue and hot glue gun

-scrap cardboard

-support wood

-wire

*Dust medium has a heavier texture and an almost powdery/dull finish. It’s a little easier to apply compared to white paint, but there’s no real noticeable difference.

30+ Free Printable Vintage Halloween Images

30+ Free Printable Vintage Halloween Images

Step 1: Priming, Painting and Dry Brushing

These frames are plastic and I used a mult-purpose primer. Plastic primers are available, but multi-purpose will work just fine. To improve adhesion, lightly sand, clean the dust away and then prime.

I used two coats of a “black-brown” color to make the frames look more vintage. It’s like a barely faded black.

Dry brushing

Dry brushing is a technique in which a paint brush is relatively dry, but still holds paint. What I do is barely dip my brush in the dust medium/paint, dab the brush on something and then apply the remaining paint using a gentle stabbing motion followed by a long strokes.

Step 2: The Finished Frames

I love how the frames turned out, so I made it my theme for the area. I painted and dry brushed everything!

Step 3: The Vintage Art

I downloaded all of the pictures from the link at the top and changed the sizes in Photoshop. I printed them on regular printer paper and put the pics in the frames. These frames are super flimsy, so I also cutout cardboard inserts to fill the backs of the frames. More on that later.

Step 4: The Frame Layout

For the layout, I just stacked the frames until I was happy. The bigger frames are on the back with the smaller frames on top.

Step 5: Hot Glueing Every Together

This was tricky! I used hot glue to secure the frames to each other and two pieces of thin wood to make the entire collage sturdy. It’s still really lightweight.

First, I cutout cardboard rectangles to stuff the back of the frames and used the frame clips to hold the cardboard in.

Next, just a lot of hot glueing.

Pulling hot glue from a painted surface might remove the paint.

The wood is hot glued to the back of the collage and I covered it all with black duct tape.

To hang it, I screwed two pictures hangers to the wood and attached wire.

I made this three years ago and it’s held together with no problems.