Adding Frames to Your Pictures

Now we want to add a frame to your masterpiece. Open the house that you completed. You want to open the one saved in .jpg format. Your layer palette should look like the one below.

Duplicate this layer by left clicking the Background layer and dragging it to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Your layer palette should now look like this:

Next you will need to add extra space around the image to place you frame on. The extra space is going to become your picture frame. The amount of space you add depends on how large you want your frame to be. Go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Canvas Size.

When the Canvas Size dialog box appears, enter how much space you want to add around the image. I want a fairly thick frame for my photo, so I'm going to enter a value of 1.5 inches for both the Width and Height options. Make sure you have the Relative option checked as well:

Your picture should now have a 1.5 inch border around all four sides as shown below:

Add a new blank layer, not a duplicate layer, by clicking the new layer icon at the bottom of the layer palette

Your layer palette should now look like the graphic below:

Click back on your Background copy layer. Select the magic wand tool and click in the white border area around the picture. You should see "marching ants" where you have selected:

Open the pattern graphic you want to use for the frame. I used the graphic below for my pattern fill. You may use your own fill or you can use the one below:

You will need to define and save this pattern fill. If you need to refresh your memory on how this is done click here for the instructions.

Once you have defined and saved your pattern fill, you will fill this selection with the pattern. Click Edit and select Fill.

Select Pattern then click the arrow on the Custom Pattern and select the pattern you saved for the frame. Click OK to fill the border with the fill.

Your picture should now look like the graphic below depending on whether you used your own pattern or the one I provided.

To add a more ornate frame, while the fill border is still selected, select Filter then select Texture and select an of the list of textures provided.

Click on the different textures then view how it changes the frame which appears to the left of the filter dialog box.

Once you have selected the filter you want to use, click OK to apply the texture to the frame. I choose the Mosaic Tiles texture. My picture frame is shown below: