Need a great but cheap picture mat?

I have a GREAT tip for anyone who hates to pay for mat boards and they don't know how to cut mats:

I had my daughter's pictures done at a major dept. store and they wanted 30 bucks for a collage picture and another 20 for an ugly frame (on sale!) so I figured I'd just do it myself. When I went to find a collage frame and mat board the over-the-counter frames and mats didn't fit the size of the dept. store pictures (how convenient). But, I found my way around that!

Buy a sheet of art paper and cut out areas for the pictures. It looks just like a mat and it cost a heck of a lot less than a custom mat! $2.49 instead of $22.00! I bought an 11x14 frame from Micheal's for around $9.00 (55% off) so that's a huge savings! (I'd do the math for you but I suck at math :)

And the bonus? There was some left over room on the "mat" for a little scrap booking detail that reads: Ada 6 months (you know, to distinguish these pics from ALL the other pics around the house)



I can not take all the credit for this grand idea, however. The nice employee behind the Micheal's custom framing counter gave me the idea. Naughty her for saving me so much money!