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Family Photo Projects

It's often attractive to put a decorative border  called a mat   around a photograph. One way to make one is to decorate a sheet of paper with a crayon "rubbing." That is, put a sheet of paper over something that has texture, rub a crayon over it, and you'll see an outline of the object on the paper. You can rub over all sorts of objects, such as a brick, basket, flowers, twigs, or bumpy fabric. In the example here, I used leaves because they go nicely with the nature photo.

• Yellow and green crayons
  
• Two sheets of white paper
  
• Eight small leaves
  
• Photograph
  
• Paste

1. Break the crayons in half and tear off the paper wrapper.

2. Using the side of the yellow crayon, not the point, scribble color over one sheet of paper.

3. Put the leaves upside down on the other sheet of paper. The bumpy veins should be facing you. Spread the leaves apart so there are leaves all over the paper and not overlapping.

4. Put the paper you colored on top of the leaves, with the colored side facing you.

5. Hold the paper down with one hand. Use the side of the green crayon to rub all over the paper. Press hard and you will see the outline of the leaves.

6. Paste your photograph in the middle of your crayoned rubbing.

Use other textured things and crayon colors that seem right for your photograph.

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Great idea, I want to paint the words 'Wind Dancer' surrounded by some leaves in order to honor some fantastic trees outside my window. I'm going to try this technique. Posted by: Carolyn Murray Jun 11, 2007 @ 1:29 PM EST

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