Remember buying physical CDs? Back when you bought the whole album even when you wanted just a song? We don’t do that anymore, of course, since we have Amazon and iTunes filling our single-track needs, but if you’re anything like us you still have many (Read: hundreds) of CD cases lying around.
With the age of digital music in full swing, having transferred all of our music to our iPods and the discs to carrying cases, what can be done with all those plastic CD holders other than throw them away? The answer: upcycle.
Wikipedia says,
“Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable or downcycled and transforming it into something of greater use and value.”
Upcycle for Artwork
Recently I needed some inexpensive wall art to liven up our guest bedroom before my parents came to stay with us. The photo frames we can get locally are not even worth the ride to the store. Plus, why buy when you can do it yourself?
By thinking just a little outside the CD case, you can take those useless pieces of plastic that are cluttering up space in your closet and upcycle them into something useful and even a little bit beautiful.
What You will Need
- Old CD cases
- Paper for the background
- Photos
- Glue
- String
- Small paperclips
The Steps
1. Print out your photos or gather pictures for frames.
I got mine from Flickr’s creative-commons search function. These are pictures taken (sometimes) by professionals, that you can use for free – as long as it isn’t commercially.
If you don’t want to waste ink printing them yourself, check out your local photo place or an online print shop like Snapfish.
2. Measure the size of the inside back cover of your CD case.
3. Cut out paper to fit that size.
4. Cut your photos to fit the size of the paper (or just a little smaller if you want a border) and glue the photos onto the paper.
5. Using a small amount of string, run it through the small holes at the top and bottom of the CD case. Once through, tie the string around a small paperclip to hold it in place. Do both sides of a CD case and then adjust the strings as necessary to make the case straight. Using the string, make a handle on top to hang the pictures.
6. Tape your photos into the back of the CD case, by laying the photo down face first in the case and securing it into place.
7. Hang and enjoy your cheap or free artwork.
Related posts:
[...] If you are like us then you end up with about a million cases to movies or music that you have compiled into CD cases. I like to hang them on the wall and then put the boys’ artwork or creative commons photos from flickr in them. For the full CD Case Photo Frame tutorial go here. [...]