This is a simple way to decorate a frame with stickers. I thought of it when I got a little mirror in a plain wooden frame at a garage sale, and I wanted a quick and easy way to decorate its frame. I had some paints and stickers at home, and the rest is history.

You will need:

1. An unpainted, unfinished wood picture frame (or a mirror with such a frame). You can get cheap pine frames at craft stores, or you can use something old that you have at home.

2. Paints - I suggest acrylic paints, as they are water-based (no fumes and clean-up is easy!) and they are very durable. You can use paints that are meant for painting on wood, or you can use any artist paints.

Tip: Even if you already have acrylic artist paints, it is actually a good investment to buy some white water-based wood paint (for example: Paint Magic Wood Wash in Cool White), which gives you opaque coverage on wood. Then you can add a tiny bit of artist paint to the white to make all kinds of pastel colors. (Mix enough paint in one batch for the whole project, so you won't run out and have to match the shade with a new batch.) This is more cost-effective than using your artist paints because they are more concentrated than you would need for covering wood, and they are more expensive. It is also more cost-effective than buying many shades of wood paint, because you probably wont need a whole lot of that particular shade of baby blue in the future, so a large portion will remain unused.

3. A paintbrush. (Don't use one that's meant for watercolors, it'll fall apart!)

4. Stickers - If you are a kid (or a grown-up who is a kid at heart), you probably have lots of these. You can also buy very cheap and pretty ones at any drugstore.

Tip: The best stickers for decorating things are the ones the have a transparent background. If the background is white, and you put the sticker on a colored surface, there will probably be a bit of white showing around the edge of the sticker. But don't sweat it, this usually isn't such a big deal - hey, this is art! People will just assume that that's how you meant for it to look...

5. Masking tape. (Not too wide - it should be the right width for stripes.)

6. Varnish - You can use shiny wood varnish, or, if the frame is small, you can just use some clear nail polish! (I used Maybelline Long Lasting clear nail polish that I had around the house.) Just make sure it belongs to you or you have permission, because your sister probably won't find it amusing if you steal hers.

Step 1 - The Background

First, choose two pastel colors for the stripes. I chose pale pink and white. This will be a soft background for the stickers. (Think about what colors your stickers are, so that they will look good on the background.)

Using one of the colors, paint the entire surface of the frame. Leave to dry. If necessary, paint another coat for a smooth, opaque look. Leave to dry.

Next, mark off one side of the frame with the masking tape at the corners, by placing the tape diagonally from the inside corner to the outside corner. Mark off the opposite side of the frame in the same way. Now, mark off stripes one both selected portions of the frame, starting from the outside in. Line up a piece of masking tape with the edge, the line up another piece next to the first piece, and so forth. When you are done, lift off every other strip. This will leave a striped pattern with equal width stripes, with the possible exception of the innermost stripe, which will probably end up thinner or wider than the rest. (For my mirror, I left a wider stripe on the inside rather than a thinner one, which I think looks great!)

Tip: When marking things off with masking tape, it's a good idea to stick the tape on your clothes a few times first, which makes it less sticky. Then when you mark the frame with it and later remove it, the tape won't be so sticky that it will peel off bits of paint with it.

Now that the striped pattern is marked on two sides of the frame, you can easily paint the second color on. The tape covers all the parts that you don't want to paint, so that when you remove it, you get nice clean stripes. Don't remove the tape until the paint is fairly dry.

Tip: To help prevent the paint from bleeding under the tape, don't put too much paint on the brush. Pat the brush on some paper to remove excess paint. Also, adding water to the paint makes it runny, so don't add any unless it's absolutely necessary. Finally, use gentle brush strokes that start on the tape and go off it, brushing away from the tape edge. Alternatively, you can use a gentle dabbing motion with very little paint on the brush.

Here is an example of what a frame should look like after marking off the first pair of opposite sides. Paint in between the horizontal pieces of tape. Don't paint outside of the diagonal pieces of tape - you don't want to paint the two vertical sides at this point.

After two opposite sides of the frame are finished and dry, repeat the process on the remaining two sides.

Step 2 - The Stickers

This part is fun and easy. Just grab some pretty stickers and stick them all over the frame! If you want to look at different ways to arrange them, you can cut them out of the sheet along with the backing paper, and try different arrangements before sticking them on.

Step 3 - Finishing Touches

Now you can cover the whole thing with varnish! If you want, you can also add some definition by painting along the thickness of the frame, on the inside and outside. For example, I took some black acrylic artist paint and, masking off the front surface, painted the side surfaces (outside and inside) with a tiny brush. If you choose to do this, do it before the varnish.

If you still feel the frame needs a little something, you can add a little decoration at the top, bottom or corners.

Idea: For my mirror, I added a black velvet ribbon at the top. Actually, I took an old black velvet hair scrunchie whose rubber band was broken. I cut along the seam, so that I was left with a black velvet tube. I removed the torn rubber band, put in a piece of wire and sewed up the ends of the "tube". I arranged it into a pretty bow, and the wire on the inside of it keeps it in place so it doesn't flop around. And I attached it to the top of the mirror.