Although most simple software applications allow you to add frames and borders to your digital images before printing them, in most cases you can only choose from pre-determined templates. No creative flexibility is provided. In this features we’ll outline some simple ways to add fancy borders that can be used by everyday photographers and scrapbooking enthusiasts to customise their favourite pictures.
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Although most simple software applications allow you to add frames and borders to your digital images before printing them, in most cases you can only choose from pre-determined templates. No creative flexibility is provided. In this features we’ll outline some simple ways to add fancy borders that can be used by everyday photographers and scrapbooking enthusiasts to customise their favourite pictures.  Simple applications like Picasa include facilities for adding borders to images. However, while they work well when you want to add a black or coloured line around the picture to separate it from a white background, very little creative flexibility is available for producing interesting borders. 
Picasa was used to add the narrow black line around this picture. Start by creating a New Fill Layer.  In the pop-up dialog box, select the colour you wish to use for the border. We’ve chosen white in this example because we want to create an irregular, ‘painted out’ effect.  Then click on the Eraser tool and select one of the textured brushes, adjusting its width to suit the size of the picture you are working on. Using this brush, paint away the overlying layer to reveal the picture below. You can change brushes as you work, choosing larger brushes when working on the outer edges of the frame and shifting to smaller, finer brushes where finer details are required.  When you’re happy with the result, click on Layer > Flatten Image and save the result. 
Decorative Frames   Now click on Select > Inverse.  Click on the colour box on the side toolbar (circled) and set the colour to suit the picture.  Now select the paint bucket tool from the sidebar and fill the frame with the colour.  If you’re happy with the result you can stop here. However, there are plenty of other effects you can add to make your frame more interesting. You can create a texture for the frame by selecting Filter > Texture and choosing one of the texture options. We have selected Craquelure. Some adjustments to the selected texture can be made in the drop-down menu.  You can make additional fine-tuning adjustments to the texture with the sliders in the upper right corner of the workspace.  If you’d like to create jagged or wavy edges, this is done by selecting Filter > Distort >Wave and adjusting the sliders until you achieve the desired effect.  
The result of applying texture and wavy edge effects.
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