Ever want to completely change your decor for the holidays? I want to every year! Use cardboard to create these DIY Halloween picture frames and level up your everyday decor.

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I have a picture ledge in my living room that I absolutely love. When I first started thinking about my Halloween decor, I knew I wanted to do something special with my picture ledge.

My idea was to find all black picture frames and then print out black and white photos to put inside so that it looked like an old house with old pictures.

5 pictures with white frames sitting on a picture ledge. picture on the right has a cardboard frame sitting around it. there is a couch underneath and a orange rectangle painted on the wall behind the photos.

But I knew finding picture frames as large as I wanted would be hard. When I originally created the picture ledge I looked for white picture frames to go up there and couldn’t find large ones second hand. And they were money to buy new.

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I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on Halloween decor. I knew printing black and white pictures would be expensive enough and didn’t want to add the cost of the frames onto it too. Frames that I would only use for one season!

5 pictures with white frames covered with cardboard frames sitting on a picture ledge. there is a table with stuff underneath and a orange rectangle painted on the wall behind the photos.

How To Make DIY Halloween Picture Frames from Cardboard

These DIY Halloween picture frames end up being practically free! If you use photos you already have, otherwise you can change the whole vibe of your house for just the price of photos.

What You Need:

Tools Needed:

Box Cutter

Supplies Needed:

Cardboard Boxes
Black Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
Picture Frames
Museum Putty

DIY Halloween Picture Frames from Cardboard Tips

Use Existing Matting and Frame as a Template

Use your existing matting and frame as a template.

close up of white matting laying on cardboard with a pencil line marking the matting.

The matting I just traced out and cut exactly to size so that I could make black matting instead of the white matting.

matting moved out of the way on a cardboard box to show pencil outline of the matting

For the frame, I took the glass out, laid the frame down, traced the inside and then made pencil markings for what I wanted the outside of the frame to look like. There was no precise measuring.

2 picture frames laying on top of a cardboard box

Cut the Cardboard a Little Bigger than the Frame

The first cardboard I cut, I cut it just to cover the frame. This doesn’t work for a couple reasons. One, when the cardboard was up on the frame, I could see the white of the frame around the edges.

cardboard picture frames laying on top of white picture frames and other cardboard laying on the floor

There was no way to block the inside edges. So I cut the cardboard so that it overlapped the glass. This helps to hide the white edge of the frame around the glass.

cardboard picture frame laying on top of a cardboard box with black paint on it.

Some of the picture frames were too big for one piece of cardboard to cover. I used hot glue to glue multiple strips together to create a frame big enough. As long as each strip is a solid piece of cardboard, it will have no problem standing up.

I cut pieces out to create add ons like the crown and the eyes and hot glued those on as well. Get creative! The frames can be plain or have some flair.

black cardboard around picture frames with black and white photos inside on picture ledge hanging over a gray couch

For the sides of the frames, I cut strips of cardboard that I could adhere to the sides of the frame to fully complete the transformation of these frames. Now no matter where you view the frames from in the house, they look like black frames.

black cardboard around picture frames with black and white photos inside on picture ledge

Then just paint all the cardboard black. I used matte black because I wanted it to look old and not like everything was brand new. Use multiple coats to ensure everything is even.

Use Blue Tape to Attach the Cardboard to the Frame

I want to be able to use these frames after Halloween is over. I first tried to use museum putty to hold the cardboard on the frames. This didn’t work at all.

The museum putty stuck well to the frame, but would fall off the cardboard. So I decided to use blue tape to attach the cardboard to the frames. This works well for me because the cardboard is ultimately sitting on the picture ledge, which helps support and keep it in place.

Living room with a picture ledge and black picture frames on ledge with black and white pictures inside with bats on the wall.

I think the blue tape would hold if these were hanging on the wall, but I’m honestly not sure!

Yield: 5

DIY Halloween Picture Frames

We all have cardboard boxes laying around. Why not utilize them for some really awesome Halloween picture frames!

Active Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $0

Materials

Cardboard Boxes
Black Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
Picture Frames
Blue Tape

Tools

Box Cutter
Hot Glue Gun
Paint Brush

Instructions

Start by laying existing picture frames onto cardboard boxes. Use the picture frames as a template to know how big to make the cardboard frames, and where to cut the 'window' for the pictures.
Use a pencil to trace out a general shape for what the frame should look like. Make the cardboard frames wider than the existing frames, and the 'window' slightly smaller to help hid the existing frames better.
If the cardboard isn't big enough to cover the frames, piece together the cardboard. Cut out the top and bottom strips, then the sides, and hot glue everything together.
Cut out eyes, or mouths or anything else you want to add to your cardboard frames.
Hot glue the frames together and the eyes or mouths on.
Cut out strips of cardboard to cover the sides of the picture frames..
If creating black matting, use the existing matting as a template and cut the cardboard to that exact size. Use a pencil to trace the matting and then cut it out with box cutter.
Paint everything black. Paint eyes white.
Take out existing matting and put in black matting.
Attach side strips and top cardboard frames to existing frames using blue tape.
Optional: print out black and white photos to add to the new frames!

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Pinterest Pin that says Inexpensive, Cardboard Halloween Frames with a black background and cob webs, photo is of picture frames with black and white pictures inside.

What’s Next?

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Spooky Halloween Flowers

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Book Page Ghosts