DIY Flower Picture Frame for Kids (Easy Mother’s Day Gift Idea!)


Published: April 8, 2022 · Updated: February 22, 2024 by Sacha

Need some Mother’s Day inspiration? Mom will love this gorgeous DIY flower picture frame made from recycled cardboard! This simple picture frame craft would make a lovely kid-made gift that any mother is sure to cherish for years to come.

Picture frame with flower borders and little girl's photo.

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There’s nothing better than receiving a gift that your little ones put time and effort into creating just for you.

Or perhaps there is something better… and that would be when the gift features a handprint, footprint or photo that you can save as a keepsake and look back on when your kids are older.

That’s why I’m so excited about this picture frame craft with flower borders. And not only is it adorable, but you can most (if not all) of the supplies you’ll need at your local dollar store.

It’s also a great way to recycle the cardboard from any box that you happen to have lying around!

Note: This craft is aimed at older school-aged children and teens, so you’ll probably need to heavily assist younger kids who want to do this craft. If you’re looking for something that’s more appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers, you may prefer this Thumbprint Flower Mason Jar Candle Holder.

Required Materials

Here’s what you’ll need to make a lovely homemade Mother’s Day flower frame using recycled cardboard:

Supplies to make a DIY flower picture frame.

How to Make a Flower Picture Frame (Step-by-Step)

1. Measure Cardboard

To make this DIY picture frame craft, you’ll need to start by deciding the size of the frame. I wanted mine to fit a 5 x 7-inch photo, so I chose to make my frame 6.5 x 8.5 inches from one outer border to the other, and about 4.5 x 6.5 inches from one inside border to the other.

Once you’ve decided on the measurements, use a ruler and a pencil to mark where you need to cut.

Cardboard with pencil, ruler and scissors.

Note: You’ll need to make the inside of the frame a bit smaller than the full measurements of the photo because you’ll need some overlap to glue the photo to the back of the frame.

2. Cut Cardboard

Using a pair of sharp scissors or a craft knife, cut along the lines you traced during the previous step.

Cardboard frame after cutting.

Using a craft knife will make things easier (just make sure to protect your workspace and keep kids away), but it’s also possible to do this using regular old scissors—and in fact, that’s what I did while taking pictures.

3. Measure Fabric

Place a piece of fabric underneath the cardboard frame and use a pencil to mark where it need to be cut. There should be an overlap of about ½ inch on both the outside and the inside.

Fabric rectangle underneath cardboard frame.

4. Cut Fabric

Use sharp scissors (or a pair of dedicated fabric scissors) to cut the fabric along the lines you traced during the previous step.

Fabric with rectangle cut out of the middle.

Then, make a small cut in each of the inner corners of the fabric window on the inside of the frame. This will allow you to fold up the fabric neatly onto the back of the frame.

Inner corner of fabric with a small cut.

5. Glue Fabric

Fold up the fabric on the inside of the frame and use Tacky glue to glue it to the back of the cardboard frame.

Cardboard frame with fabric glued to it.

Repeat this process for the fabric on the outside of the frame, continuing until all the fabric has been stretched over the cardboard and glued in place.

Cardboard frame with fabric glued to it (from a different angle).

When you get to the outer corners, you’ll probably end up with a bit of excess fabric. To make it easier to fold, simply cut off a bit of the extra fabric.

Corner of frame with small piece of fabric cut off by scissors.

Finally, once you’re done glueing the fabric, feel free to turn the frame around to see what it looks like at the front and make sure the fabric is tightly stretched over the cardboard.

Cardboard frame with fabric seen from back and front.

6. Draw Flowers

Grab a piece of craft foam and place a button on top of it. Then, use a pencil to trace flower petals all around the button in order to create the 3D flowers. (The lines don’t need to be perfect.)

Craft foam with button and pencil traced flower petals.

7. Cut Flowers

Use a pair of sharp scissors to cut along the flower petals you traced using your pencil. If needed, even them out a bit with your scissors.

Cut foam flower next to scissors.

When I got to this point, I used the flower I had already cut as a template to trace another flower onto the craft foam. This sped things up a bit because I didn’t need to trace the second flower from scratch.

8. Glue Flowers

Use Tacky glue to glue the flowers onto the border of the frame, making sure that any pencil marks that are still visible are facing downward. Then, use Elmer’s Glue-All (or more Tacky glue) to glue a button in the middle of each flower.

Note: You can also use a hot glue gun if you want to make sure none of the buttons will fall off, but I recommend keeping the kids away if you do.

Frame with one large flower in two opposite corners.

I decided to place one large, dark flower in two opposite corners of the frame and surround each of them with two smaller, lighter flowers. Feel free to make adjustments and arrange the flowers as you see fit.

Frame with smaller flowers surrounding the larger ones next to bottle of glue.

9. Let Dry

Let the frame rest undisturbed until the glue has fully dried and the flowers and buttons are secured in place.

Frame with smaller flowers surrounding the larger ones.

10. Add Photo

Turn the frame around and use Tacky glue or Elmer’s Glue-All to glue the outer edges of the photo to the back of the cardboard frame.

Downward facing frame with photo being glued to the back of it.

Then, turn the picture frame around and admire your work. Doesn’t it look adorable?

Finished DIY flower photo frame with little girl's photo.

I would LOVE to receive one of these simple flower photo frames for Mother’s Day… and I’ll definitely be picking out my favourite photo of the kids and placing it inside the frame as soon as get the chance!

Related Kid-Made Crafts for Mom

Looking for more fun crafts to do with your kids for Mother’s Day? Check out these articles:

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2 thoughts on “DIY Flower Picture Frame for Kids (Easy Mother’s Day Gift Idea!)”

    • That’s a great question! I actually just leaned it up against the wall, so there was no need for a stand. I’m planning on hanging our frame on one of our walls in the near future. In order to do so, I’m going to hot glue a piece of string to the back on each side and use the string to hang the frame from a nail. But I think that explaining how to create a stand or hang the frame from the wall would make a great addition to the article, so I’m going to work on adding some step-by-step instructions for that and will be updating the article once I do!

      Reply

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