No artist embodies life’s wild curvatures and its massive collection of fragments stashed away and used in new ways more than Antoni Gaudí.
So, for this Mother’s Day, because we just spent a glorious, 68-degree 24-hours in his glorious city of Barcelona, my two daughters made their mom a one-of-a-kind picture frame. The frame is crafted out of paper and packaging materials and will feature an evocative photograph I took of the them with their mother looking up at Gaudi’s undulating Casa Batlló on the eve of Saint Jordi Day.
The girls wanted to get creative like Gaudi and will only be using pieces of paper, packaging materials and other clever decorations— things we have scattered in drawers for rainy day art projects The kids joined forces to channel their inner Gaudí to give mom something unique that couldn’t be bought at any store, weaved together with love and memories of the conversations shared and the things witnessed together while traveling in Europe as a family.
With some inspiration from the Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds campaign, paired with their experiences wandering through Spanish and Catalan life last month, something brand new and special was born.
This is how life unfolded for two creative kids who travel, run a business, love their mom and funnel everything in their lives into the projects they take on together. We hope she loves the gift as much as the love they put into it!
If you want to create a similar project at home for mom, below are the materials my girls used and the steps they took.
Here’s how to create your own Gaudí-inspired, unique homemade Mother’s Day picture frame using only pieces of paper, packaging materials and other clever decorations!
Supplies needed:
- 4×6 Photograph (printed)
- Cardboard
- Colorful scraps of packaging material (cereal boxes work great!)
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Box cutter (with adult supervision)
- Glue stick
- Tape
- Any special adornments you’d like to use (like the small white flowers my girls’ employed)
Step 0 — select an awesome photo of mom with her kid(s) and set aside.
Step 1 — cut a series of triangular and oblong shapes out of the colorful packing material.
Step 2 — cut your piece of cardboard to the size of your photograph, leaving space for a sizable enough border around it. My girls printed a 4×6 photo so cut a roughly 5×7 rectangle out of the cardboard.
Step 3 — with the ruler and pencil, mark off the 4×6 inside of the cardboard and with a grown-up’s help, use the box cutter to cut out that piece, leaving just the 1 inch border of the frame.
Step 4 — glue the colorful shapes to the frame in a fun, kinda crazy way just like Guadí would!
Step 5 — tape the back of the photo to the back of the cardboard frame and you’ve done it!
Step 6 — make mom a cup of tea or coffee on Mother’s Day morning and deliver it in bed with the Antoni Gaudí-inspired framed photo!
This post has been sponsored by the Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds campaign. All opinions expressed above are honest and unbiased, as always. We really do love Gaudi, did just get back from Barcelona and the kids really did make this pretty frame for that pretty picture of them with their mom in front of Casa Batlló.
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