Plastic sheet (like from packaging- I used a plastic sleeve from some pictures I had printed and cut out the desired size)
1. Paint the bottle caps however you want. They can all be one color, or multi-colored. You can make letters, symbols, or shapes. Or you can cut out small pictures from magazines and Modge Podge them onto top of the bottle caps. Whatever you want. When painting, I found it was easiest to paint the sides first, hold the bottle cap down by the top, then paint the top. For the coral color, I had to do 2-3 coats depending on how dark the original design on the cap was. For the blue, I only needed 1-2 coats. Then add a layer of Modge Podge to each. For more in-depth tips on how to paint your bottle caps, click here.
2. While you wait for your paint to dry, you can begin to make your actual frame. Start by taking a thick piece of cardboard and tracing the size of the picture you would like the frame to hold.
3. Cut out the center of your frame. It should be a little bit smaller than the picture you want in it.
4. Use the paper bag to smooth out the edges of the cardboard. Do the same with the cardboard you will use for the back of the frame. For tutorial, click here.
The back one should be smaller than the front piece, but bigger than the picture you are putting in the frame.
5. Coat any irregularities with more paper bag strips. This includes tears, rips from removed stickers, or weird coloration (the box I took this from was bright orange).
7. Line up your plastic sheet and make sure it fits, then glue it into place. I just used normal white glue for this step to avoid any melting hot glue might cause.
8. With hot glue, attach the backing onto your frame. You want there to be enough room to slide your pictures in and out. If you find that the backing is too deep to easily do this, you can mount the picture onto a piece of paper and use that to slide it in.
9. Using the hot glue, begin to arrange the bottle caps into the desired design and glue them on by putting a line of glue along the bottom edge.
10. Continue until as much of your frame is filled as you would like. I used 48 bottle caps for mine to cover the entire surface.
