How to Make a Matted Graduation Keepsake Announcement

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no cost to you I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. See my Disclosure + Privacy Policy for more info. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Looking for a great way to display your grad’s photos without breaking the bank? See How to Make a Matted Graduation Keepsake Announcement to frame and display. For more crafty ideas see my DIY + Crafts page.

My son is graduated in 2014 and I wanted to do something special for the Grandmothers in our family. I wanted to give them a framed graduation keepsake as a reminder of my sons special day. I had planned on buying each one of them an 8 x10 image for them to frame and display. Let me just tell you, I was not prepared for the astounding picture prices in the graduation packages that are offered. Yikes! We are talking a whopping $65.00 for one 8 x 10 photo. That is a surprisingly high price for graduation pictures. I mean they are just the same as the other school pics they offer these days. It was even the same photographer. I was not happy.

To save money I ordered the smaller 4 x 5-inch photos. Then I went to work trying to make my smaller image just as special as having the larger 8 x 10 size. I finally came up with a great way to make a professional looking matt that will fit an 8×10 frame. If the grandmothers insisted on the 8 x 10 size, then they would need to purchase one for themselves. Guess what? Not one of them did when I gave them their matted graduation keepsake gift. They loved it! Let me show you how I made it.

How to Make a Matted Graduation Keepsake Announcement

Supplies:

• You want to choose the school colors and one patterned paper to match: 12 x 12 cardstock in 4 colors, navy blue, grey, white and dark denim. Buy a few extra in case you make a mistake cutting the paper.
• 4 x 5 Graduation Photo
• 3/8-inch Wide Ribbon: Blue
• Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller
• Paper Cutter

Instructions:
Make the announcement:

I made the written announcement on the Canva.com graphic design/photo editor. If you haven’t tried Canva before, you should, it has great modern templates that help you make ga reat design for your blog and ads.

I used the fonts: Anton, Satisfy, Ubuntu, and Allura. Do a search on Canva for the graduation cap overlay and add it to the top of the graphic. The diagonal lines are found in the “Lines” section on Canva.

My announcement graphic is 400 x 600 pixels wide. When you are finished save the graphic to your computer. I then used the saved announcement graphic as an overlay.

In Canva open a new graphic to 11-inch x 8-inch. You can do this by clicking “Use Custom Dimensions” in the “Start a new Design” section on the Canva homepage. Then upload the announcement graphic you just made and use it as an overlay. Move it to the right or left of the 11 x 8 graphic. Save this new graphic to your computer. On your computer, click the graphic to open it, click file, then print and print it out.

NOTE: You may need to play around with the size using your printer settings by printing it out and cutting the announcement to fit. I made my graphics scale to 50% and rotated it, you can try different percentages to change the print size. I recommend this because no two picture frames are alike and you may have to adjust all my measurements to fit certain frames.

Putting the Announcement Together:

Cut the cardstock down to the size of your frame using a paper cutter. I recommend using a paper cutter because it will give perfectly straight lines. Again, all frames are different. Match your paper to fit the frame you have.

My dimensions of all the cardstock shown (yours will be different):

• Navy Blue 8 x 10 inches
• Grey 7.25 x 6 inches
• Denim 4.25 x 5.25 inches
• White 5 x 2 inches

Using the dot adhesive roller, glue the graduation pic to the center of the denim cardstock. Lay it on top of the grey cardstock next to the white cardstock and center the two to make them even. Do not glue them to the navy cardstock, you will do that in the last step.

Glue the Denim cardstock with the grad picture to the grey cardstock.

Cut a 13 inch13-inch of ribbon and roll the adhesive roller straight down the center of the back of the ribbon. Press the center of the ribbon onto the center of the back of the white cardstock.

Place the white cardstock with ribbon attached to the right of pic on grey cardstock, making sure all borders are even. Next add adhesivce to the back of the white cardstock. Glue all layers to the grey cardstock.

Flip the grey cardstock over and glue the ribbon ends together on the back. Glue the grey cardstock to navy base cardstock and that’s it! Once you make the first one you will be able to use your same dimensions to make more.

I hope you liked this graduation keepsake tutorial. It is such a great inexpensive gift idea for family members to frame and reflect back on for years to come!

LOVE IT? PIN IT!

More Grad + Printable Projects:

• Tropical Palm Birthday + Thank You Card
• Graduation Photo Wreath by Our Crafty Mom
• Candy Lei with Candy Box Graduation Keepsake by My Pinterventures

My Must-Have Amazon Grad Resources:

• Selfie Graduation Scene Creator
• Graduation Photo Booth Props
• Graduation Lawn Decor
• Photo Clip String Lights~ Grad party Decor

See more of my Craft Projects~

Graduation Quote Printables