It’s easy and fun to make this Toy Story themed Perler Bead Picture frame.
It won’t be long until Toy Story 4 is in theaters, so I wanted to create something to celebrate. I mean, it’s been 8 years since Toy Story 3, so this definitely deserves a celebration.
I honestly love the little Pizza Planet aliens more than any of the other Toy Story characters, so I made a Perler Bead version. Once he was done, I was so in love with my little alien, that I decided to make it into a picture frame.
Making Perler Bead picture frames are extremely easy, it almost doesn’t even deserve a tutorial. BUT, I’m going to write one anyway, just so you know exactly what to do to make this cute little frame.
The best part of this craft, is once the Toy Story craze has passed you can use any similar sized Perler Bead sprite in the same manner to make a custom picture frame.
So, let’s begin.
Supplies Needed for Toy Story Picture Frame
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- Perler Beads
- Large Perler Bead pegboard
- Ironing Paper
- Iron
- 4 x 6 picture frame (more on what I used below)
- Hot Glue gun
Now, if you are fairly new to the amazing world of Perler Beads, you might want to check out my Ultimate Perler Bead Beginners Guide to help you with all the details on how to use Perler Beads.
Let’s talk picture frames before we move on to creating this cute project. I used a picture frame, I got for 50 cents at a garage sale. Of course, if you aren’t hitting any garage sales, you can use any 4 x 6 picture frame you have on hand where the colors match.
If you don’t have ANY picture frames, Michael’s Crafts have cheap $1.00 unfinished frames that are made for crafting. They are in the front of the store in their dollar section. You will need to paint them with acrylic paint before using, but it’s a great deal. Plus, if you are making this Toy Story craft with your kids, they would love painting the frame a color of their choosing.
Creating the Perler Bead Toy Story Alien
The first thing you will need to do to create this easy Perler Bead craft is make the Perler Bead Toy Story Alien. He needs to be made on a 29×29 or larger pegboard.
I had a heck of a time with color selection for the uniform of this little guy. I just couldn’t pick out 2 blues that I liked together. In the end, I went with the blue glow in the dark beads for the main part of his suit, and dark blue beads for the accent. If you don’t have those colors, use what colors you have. I just wanted to mention the glow-in-the-dark beads because I rarely use them, and how cool is it that the alien glows?
You can see the pattern for the Toy Story Alien below.
After you’ve got all your beads on the pegboard, melt your sprite and lay a heavy book on top of it while it cools. Because we are using this in a craft project, it’s important that the alien is flat and the book makes sure that it cools flat. If you forget to cool it with a book on top, you can always reheat your project with an iron and cool it with a book later.
Creating your Toy Story Alien Perler Bead Picture Frame
The final step in making your Perler Bead picture frame is to attach the Perler Bead alien to the frame. For this, I used a hot glue gun.
Just run a bead of hot glue along the edge of the frame where you want to attach the sprite and then place the Toy Story Alien on the frame. Push it down a bit to get full contact between the alien and the frame. You then have a few moments to maneuver the sprite into the perfect position before the glue dries.
That’s it!! You now have a super cute Perler Bead picture frame. All that’s left to do is add a picture of your choice. You can see that I made a graphic quote from Buzz Lightyear to put in mine! Eventually I’ll add a picture of the kids, but I didn’t have any handy.
So go forth…to infinity and beyond…and make your own Perler Bead picture frame.
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