The perfect photo frame is on your friend’s wall, or you’re keeping it in your desk at work, so you don’t have to look at it too often. So you’d be surprised to know just how many times you’ve kept an old pic around, just in case you needed to make a frame at a party, post to Facebook, or, yes, even make an Instagram post. Here’s how to DIY a selfie frame that’ll put a smile on everyone’s face.

Start with a piece of white cardboard

Do you really want to draw more attention to a photo of yourself than the birthday girl or boy? The best way to make a selfie frame that is basically invisible, besides your smiling face, is to make it out of cardboard. Just make sure it’s lightweight enough that it doesn’t make you look fatter than you are, as it will only be in your face if you look at it.

Choose the shape of the frame

If you have a digital camera, just take a picture of the person and choose the shape that most closely reflects the shape of the person’s face in the photo. Put the photo on the top half of the board, and paint on the border.

DIY your selfie frame

If you don’t have a digital camera, you can do this in paint, too. Start with a piece of white cardboard, and paint black on the board using water-based spray paint.

Trace the image onto the cardboard

Make sure you use an inexpensive photo of the person and use a ruler and pencil to trace around the photo. Then paint the edges of the cardboard black.

Make it look good

Now let’s address the image itself. We’re not going to be giving it a higher resolution or anything. You can still make a solid frame.

Trace the same image you used in the paint job onto the back of the cardboard

Next, draw a line down the center of the board.

Making a solid, flat back isn’t as hard as it might seem. You can do it yourself with a template or with a guide. Here’s a pretty good one you can use.

Wrap the whole thing in plastic

Some photos are well-loved enough that you wouldn’t want to make a frame out of them. You can always do a frame out of the photos, but for a birthday or graduation party or whatever, it’s better to have the pretty frames to put the actual photos in.

Go around the back of the board and put the whole thing inside a plastic bag so that the edges don’t get damaged when you put the photo in. Make sure you make a good seal with the bag.

Adhere to the back of the cardboard

Now you’re done. Now take the photo out of the plastic bag, and stick it on the back of the frame.

You can put any number of stickers or photos or ribbons around the frame to personalize it.

Put it in a frame

Do you think the frame is really any good? Then you need to decide whether you want to get a good-looking frame to put your old picture in, or just get the photos framed so they’ll look good in a nice frame.