We live far away from my family, most are in South Africa, with one brother in the U.K. I so badly want Gradie to know her uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. so I got to thinking of a way I could keep their pictures around so that we could go through and name them, I could talk about them and how special they all are and how much they all love her.
I came up with this simple to make DIY Acrylic Frame Family Album. I thought this was a great way for Gradie to really interact with the pictures and it’s cute, we can leave it on the side table out on display when she’s not going through it.
I wanted to share this fun tutorial with you and hope you’ll make one too for your home!! It would also be a great family time craft to put together – QUALITY TIME!!
Required Materials;
- Acrylic Frame (size dependent on your preference)
- Construction Paper
- Family stickers
- 1in loose leaf binder rings
- 1 hole punch
- Glue stick
- Foam Sheets (optional, see below).
- Soldering iron/drill (to make 2 to 3 holes in the frame)
- Family Photos
(provided links are Amazon affiliate links, if you use them I will receive a very small referral payment)
PLEASE NOTE – there are many ways you can go about decorating your album. I chose to make an 8×10 album as this was made for a 2.5 year old, so I thought having it larger would be easier. Also, I am sure you already have a lot of craft supplies at home, so you wouldn’t need to pick up all the supplies listed, in fact, all we picked up was the frame from the dollar store.
I also chose to pick up some foam sheets, pictured below, to reinforce the construction paper we were using for our album. This came in a pack at the dollar store and was a cheaper alternative then purchasing new, thicker card stock/construction paper, this is ONLY because this album is for a 2.5 year old, most wont need to make the pages thicker to withstand a toddler manhandling them. I used double sided tape to adhere the pages to the foam sheets.
Directions;
- Take frame and use drill or soldering iron to create 2 to 3 holes in top of the frame, depending on size of frame. We went with three holes along the top.
- Mark construction paper to align with holes created in #1. Use 1 hole punch to punch holes into paper.
- Decorate each page with photos you have chosen. Repeat this until you have used the desired number of photos.
- Decorate an album cover page and back page, which is inserted into the frame itself.
Pictured is our album’s back cover page - OPTIONAL – if you are reinforcing your pages with foam sheets, apply double sided tape and adhere each page to the foam backing. Make sure to hole punch through each backing at this point.
- Once all pages are decorated and appropriately ordered you can assemble your album. Open each binder ring and loop in all your album pages and ta-da your album is complete.
We had a great time making our family album, I cannot wait to go through it each day, to teach Gradie all about her family far away!!
I hope you’ll share & PIN this post so that others can enjoy it too!!
This is a cute idea. I like being able to flip through like this. Can change the top any time. Makes it nice.
Wonderful creation…I am a 64 year old man with many years of disorganized pictures, I am sure beginning a project or two like this will bring back some great memories
I am sure it would!! You should totally do it!!
This looks like a great idea for my photos. I thank you for this project idea.
These came out so nice, so durable, too. I need to make up a couple of albums, this is perfect!
That is really a clever idea to use it as a stand for many pictures instead of a frame for only one. I’m definitely going to do this, I already have a few of those frames and I’m going to convert them. Thanks for the great idea, this is another reason I love blogs.
What a great little Family project this can turn out to be. Thank you!
Such a lovely idea. It is hard growing up away from the extended family although children have Skype nowadays!
Wow..that looks so easy I’m dying to try it out!
This is such a great idea! I need to make that! Kids grow up so quickly! This is a perfect idea to make!
This is so cute and I bet quite fun to make. I may need to make one for my kiddos.
This is such a cute idea, we live far away from family and this would make a great gift
This frame is so cute.
I really like how colorful this is and the designs are cute too! The foam reinforcement is a great idea for a toddler.
Love this idea because my toddler loves looking at pictures on the phone or in our frames at home but if she could hold these pictures and sit with them to look at she would definitely get a kick out of that.
This looks super cute and a great keepsake.!
What a neat idea!! I wasn’t ever much of a picture person, but lately I have been taking more family photos & this would be perfect. It looks like something I could do with my grand kids!!
Very clever! My adult son has a girlfriend who is very far from her family and I bet she would love this. She misses them so much.
Nice gift for mothers day.
This is a great idea! Perfect with Mothers Day coming up. The kids can even get in on it and make one for Grandma…and maybe Mom too
i love that gracie will be able to see her family in picture
and then you able to use for story
That is a very creative, and cute idea! That’s a neat way to teach your daughter about her family.
This would be a great craft for the kids to do on a rainy day.
What a great idea.. this is something thats fun kids and adults. I can see my mom and I even having fun making these!
I’ve recently had some photos done in acrylic. Love what it does to the photo! I’d love to make a photo album too!
This is really neat. Nice clear instructions too
What an awesome idea! So simple to do and looks like so much fun.
I’ve made this before and it is such a cute and creative craft to display. It looks nicer than just a photo album placed somewhere and I ended up customizing it to be a calendar as well.
I love this idea for Mother’s Day gifts crafts!!
Thank you for the instructions on this Acrylic Frame Family Album. I will be building mine this weekend.
That’s the cutest art craft.
This is a great idea, and you make it look easy. Thanks for sharing!
I’d love to do this project with my daughter. Thanks for sharing!
I love this and I am thinking what a wonderful Fathers Day gift this would make, Thanks for the idea
Adorable! It looks fairly easy to do, too. Thanks for the detailed instructions – I’m going to try my hand at it soon.
Such a cute idea and simple to make
My daughter just had a baby boy a few days ago, so I’d love to make this for her!
Thanks for sharing such a creative idea,i would love to do this with the grandkid,s photos
Great craft, I like that the kids can add personal touches to each page and help with making them! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a great craft idea, and so cute! I would love to make one with my daughter, it would be something to cherish forever!
Thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful Fathers day gift this would make. So cute.