How to Make Photo Mats from Craft Wood!

Boy – it has been busy lately! My parents just flew in for Canadian Thanksgiving and we spent the entire weekend eating turkey and pie and reading magazines and blogs and it was awesome. It was also Dan’s birthday last week…and then I had an unfortunate mishap with my phone that involved clumsy me, a staircase and a smashed screen. (Oy. It’s expensive to be clumsy!!) And then, of course, it’s Monthly DIY Challenge time! This month, I’m showing you how to make photo mats from craft wood!

Here are the supplies I used:

Thin Plywood or Craft Wood
Basic Jigsaw – We have this one
Basic Power Sander
Washi Tape
Clamp Set
Carpenter’s Square or just a good ruler
A Work-Mate (non-essential, but I basically couldn’t live without mine!)

New to the Monthly DIY Challenge (MDIYC)? Basically we get together with other Home and Decor bloggers on the second Wednesday of each month and we all create something using the same item or following the same theme!

I started with a set of white frames I got at the thrift store for a dollar a piece. They had mats in them, but they were clearly for a child’s room because they were pink and baby blue.

First thing I did was measure those original mats against my thin plywood and cut it down to size. From there, some of the edges were a bit jagged and imperfect. So I smushed them into my vice top and sanded them down.

I traced out the photo inserts using the original mats as a guide. Then I used my jigsaw to cut out the holes. I had a couple of square photos, so I decided to offset those for interest sake. They are 4″x4″ and I cut the hole to be 3.75″ square.

This was my first time really using my jigsaw for anything intricate and my lines weren’t exactly ‘perfect’. I overcame that rookie flaw by wrapping my photo mats with black and white polka dot Washi Tape! I actually think it kicks them up a notch and I love them!

They can hang on a wall or sit on a table top or ledge. I think I might put them in our sunroom somewhere. I can’t really decide.

I opted to not put the photo frame glass back in for two reasons. One – it made the back of the frame fit badly and two – it created a glare that took away from the texture of the wood mat.