Altered Art – Provocraft Frames

Reported By Julia Stainton

As the popularity of papercrafting continues to rise, cardmakers and scrapbookers are looking for fabulous new ways to take their designs off the page and out of the envelope. Altering items and crafting home décor brings their passion for papercrafting into their everyday life. What better way to enjoy it than frames and wall-art that you can see everyday?

One of my favorite recent pastimes is designing frames for gifts and my home. A treasured family photo deserves a special presentation in a frame crafted by loving hands. The fabulous thing about altering your own frames is that you can match your décor or the event, perfectly. Simply gather supplies that will look wonderful in the setting or personalize the frame to suit the personality of either the recipient or the photograph. Some paper, ribbon, paint, embellishments... whatever you wish to choose. With no right or wrong, just your own personal inspiration. It is sure to be a lot of fun!


Provocraft makes a fabulous line of wooden frames that can be altered. These frames are specially designed for the crafting industry with lots of alterable space for you to express your creativity. Some are sold as unfinished wood and others have a white primer finish that can be painted or left as is. I find the frames to be very well priced and easily affordable. The smallest size, a 5 inch square frame is one of my favorites and retails for only $1.50 CDN. The one drawback with the 5x5 frame is it’s cheap construction. My husband, who has worked in the construction industry for 20 years, cringed at the corner miters of it, but when he saw the final covered result, he was quite impressed and agreed the price was unbeatable. Some of Provocraft’s wood frames are available with a small photo size and a very large wood surface, ideal for altering. Others are a rectangular shape and a few of the frames even come with openings for more than one photo. To see Provocraft’s whole line of wood frames, visit Provocraft's Website.


Provocraft also makes a wonderful new line of prefinished grooved wood frames for crafting. These frames have a fabulous grooved beadboard surface and give a great Shabby Chic or cottage feel to them. Easily altered just by adding a few small touches, these MDF board frames are perfect for the busy or beginning crafter. They are completely usable just as they are…add a few extra touches and you have a quick, beautiful project.


How to Cover Wood Frames With Paper
Adding paper to frames is a very simple process. You only need a few basic supplies…adhesive, cardstock or patterned paper, some scissors and some sandpaper.


For most projects, I use Alene’s thick and Tacky Glue. Again, a very inexpensive item found at Michael’s and many other Craft Stores. This is a great glue that works well for adhering paper to the wood frame. I find the glue dries quite quickly if spread thinly and evenly allowing you to get to work almost immediately on your project. I am a crafter of limited time and patience so this is a big plus factor for me! If you are using a light-weight patterned paper, you may wish to use a light application of Mod Podge on your frame instead to prevent buckling. After your paper is dry, use small scissors to trim close to the wood frame. It is really almost impossible to get a great edge just by cutting. The sandpaper is quick and very easy way to remove those excess pieces of paper and give a nice clean edge finish. If you wish, you can also use some paint or ink to finish the edges of the frame and add a little extra depth to your design.


Another idea I love for frames is to use a quote instead of a photograph. A small little frame with a quote would be perfect for sitting on your desk with a little inspirational quote in it. A stamped design would also be very pretty inside the frame or even some special piece of memorabilia could be included. Don’t hide it away when it could be made into a conversation piece.

I love this last little triptych style frame. At $7.99 Cdn, a fabulous price! The little gold tone hinges work well and this frame is well made. The white primed finish makes it easy to get right to work on your project and lends itself particularly well to a paint finish. I decided to drag out some old paints from my basement and finally, after sitting there for years, give a crackled finish a shot. In hind sight, it may have worked better if I had used a lighter tan paint and also used a thicker coat of the crackle accents but as this was my first try, it doesn’t look too bad. I certainly did get the rustic appearance I was going for.


I was really pleased with my experience with all the Provocraft frames I’ve tried. I know that I’ll be picking up more in the future for other projects and would highly recommend them as a great starting place if you are new to altered craft projects. If I’ve inspired you to try out a frame or if you have any questions I didn’t address in the article, I’d love to hear from you! At Craft Critique, we love to share our opinions and experiences, but we really love to hear yours as well. Below are some ideas to get you started!

Some frame altering ideas

• Paper
• Paint
• Ink
• Ribbon
• Stamps
• Embossing Powder
• Rub-ons
• Fabric
• Chipboard