How to… palm leaf picture

So recently when I’ve been scrolling through Pinterest and Insta for new home décor inspiration, I spotted a few examples of pressed, framed leaves.

 

clockwise from left: monsterscircus.com / decoist.com / femina.dk

Pressed flowers and foliage aren’t new, but what I loved about these examples was the see-through background that makes the leaves look like they are floating in the frame.

I managed to find a few DIY tutorials on how you can make these framed pressed leaves yourself, but the instructions were a bit vague and the picture frames I found were expensive (approx. £45-50) so I decided to have a go at doing it myself (famous last words).

As with any project you kinda make up as you go along you’ll run into some snags and might have to tweak your method, but after some perseverance (and oodles of tea & bickies) I’m pretty happy with the finished result!

So here’s my how to guide on making your own 🙂

What you’ll need:

• Palm leaf / foliage – you can pick anything you want to press, but I chose an artificial leaf from Ikea
• 2 x Picture frames – I bought these from Ikea again.  They are unfinished pine so if you want to change the colour you can easily paint them
• Pliers / Wire cutters
• Superglue or semi-permanent glue
• Corrugated cardboard – spare cardboard packing boxes would be fine
• Sellotape
• White paint – to paint the cardboard liner (optional)

The palm leaf (£3.50) & picture frames (£4.50 each) I bought from Ikea

1. Firstly I took the clear acrylic panel and backing card out of each frame, and pulled out the metal tabs that hold them in place – for this I used my wire cutters, but you can use pliers if you have these instead

Use pliers or wire cutters to remove the metal tabs safely

2. Next I placed my artificial palm leaf in one of the frames, and trimmed the stalk down to size.  For this I used wire cutters as there was a metal centre in the stalk, but you can use whatever is suitable for your project

I cut my stalk at an angle so it sat flat against the bottom edge of the picture frame

3. To create this piece, I basically sandwiched the palm leaf in between the two picture frames back to back.  I had to make sure that the two acrylic panes didn’t move so I measured the gap between the two frames when they were together and cut strips of old cardboard boxes to the same width to slot inside.

I cut four strips and Sellotaped them together at the ends to make a frame, and then painted the inside edges white so they didn’t stand out once in place.

4. I was then ready to start constructing my picture.  First I placed one of the clear acrylic panels inside a frame (face down), then inserted the cardboard frame.  I then placed the palm leaf in position and put the second acrylic panel on top.

To seal the picture frames together, I ran a thin line of superglue around the frame edge before placing the second picture frame on top (face up).

Top Tip: Make sure that you dust the inside of the acrylic panels, because once you superglue the frames together you won’t be able to get any dust or dirt trapped in there out.  I don’t know about you, but that would bug me!

If you would like to change your display in the future, then there are several semi-permanent glues you can use instead of superglue to give you that flexibility.

Use superglue to permanently seal your picture, or use a semi-permanent glue if you want to change things up in the future

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Considering this was my first bash at this type of project (and I wasn’t sure it would work) I didn’t want to spend a lot of money just in case.  For the little amount of money I ended up spending (only £12.50) I think it looks great!  Thank God for Ikea 🙂

I was contemplating painting the frame at first to match my grey dining room, but I quite like the natural look of the pine so I might leave it plain and hang it in my conservatory instead which is much fresher in style.

The finished picture… styled with some new pot plants from Ikea (well, I’d already made the trip, and they start from only £1 – it’d be rude not to add a few to my trolley) 

I loved putting this project together.  Once your picture frame is prepped, there is literally no limit to the number of different things you can display inside… pressed flowers, celebratory cards, or even items of clothing like baby blankets and dresses.

We’d love to hear how you get on with making your picture frame, and let us know what you decide to display 🙂