Just Glue It

I honestly didn’t expect so much interest in my OCC frame! I mean I even went so far as to delete my template as soon as I printed it, so sure was I that I would never need it again…. HA! Since so many of you are demanding that I make them and sell them to you, and I just don’t think they would ship very nicely, I recreated my template, just for you! I even went a step further and created a few templates so you can choose whichever one fits best for your needs.

Click Here for Templates

The first one is kind of like a fancier version of what OCC has on the website, you print it out on cardstock and then cut it out and cut out the middle and whoever is holding the camera also holds the frame up to frame those in the picture.

The second and third are designed to be printed onto a transparency and then used with an overhead projector to make a larger frame that can be held by the person/people in the photo, those are the ones I am going to give you directions to make. Hopefully these directions are pretty simple to follow, if you have any questions let me know. I’m going to warn you though, this took  me longer than I anticipated, but I think it wound up looking pretty nice.

So, first off, print one of the two templates onto a transparency, I would recommend the horizontal one if you want to do a group photo, the vertical if you want just 1-2 people in the pictures. Now in my world I constantly have a kid or my boss walking through the room while I’m trying to sketch these out (yes, I do most of my creating at work, my boss is very understanding about my need to make all the new creations for OCC and VBS) so tape the transparency down onto the projector! Find yourself a nice sized wall with nothing on it. I used green butcher paper for my frame because I wanted to put it onto a piece of foam board, use whatever color you want your frame to be, you could easily use cardboard also. Whatever you use, make sure it is tacked to your wall securely so it doesn’t wiggle around while you’re tracing.

Go ahead and trace out the template as big as you think you want it, I made mine approximately 35” wide by 44 ½” tall, for no particular reason, just because that looked big enough to me! Make sure you trace all of the lines for the frame and for the hashtag. When you are done tracing, pull your paper/cardboard down off the wall and use a sharpie to go over the lines.

I wound up painting the little border red so it would be more Christmas-y, and then I used a paint pen to paint the hashtag. Be aware that you will need to do at least 2-3 coats with the paint pen for the hashtag and probably 2 coats of the red (or whatever color you choose) because the paper seemed to just want to drink up all of my paint! After the paint is dry I like to go ahead and go over all of my lines again with the sharpie, it just seems to create a more finished professional look.

You can now cut out your frame, I recommend only cutting out the outside of the frame at this point as it will be easier to attach to the foam board if you leave the inside for now. I always cut with a box cutter, I don’t know why because I think an exacto knife would be easier but I don’t own one so I go with what I’ve got and a box cutter has worked well for me for years. Once you have the outside of your frame cut out make sure it will fit onto your piece of foam board. I re-purposed a piece of foam board we had left over from VBS this year, it’s just a sheet of cheap white insulation board, it’s pain in the butt to cut, huge mess! I have found that a lightly serrated steak knife works best for this foam, my trusty box cutter just can’t make it all the way through the inch and half foam…  I think if I had the money I would have liked to do it on a piece of pink or blue insulation, not as much of a foam mess.

Once you’re sure your frame will fit onto your foam board you just spray glue the back of your frame and immediately stick it onto your foam. I have used many types of spray glue, so believe me when I say that you want the 3M super 77 multipurpose adhesive. I let this dry usually overnight to avoid any movement while I cut the foam.  So, now you can cut out around the frame following your lines and then cut out the middle. Make sure you use a sharp enough knife to get through the paper and the foam board. When it is all cut out I went over my outside and inside lines with the sharpie again to try to hide any parts where the foam was maybe a tad bigger than the paper.

And there you have it, the only other thing is decorating it with the OCC logo or other clipart. Make sure you print these out on cardstock so they aren’t too floppy, I attached mine with hot glue but you could easily use the spray glue on these too! Hopefully you can follow my scrambled directions. It’s not too difficult to make so I know you can all figure it out! Let me know what you think in the comments! And send me pictures of yours if you make it!

~Kassy