DIY Halloween Skeleton Border

Ever wondered how to make a quick border from a piece of clip art you like? If you don't have PhotoShop or some other editor it might seem like a difficult task, but it's really not. Windows Paint is free and comes with Microsoft Windows machines. You can do quite a lot with this basic graphics editor. If you use another graphics editor, the steps are basically the same.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to make your own quick clip art borders.

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How to: Quick and Easy Clip Art Border
I needed a skeleton graphic border for a Halloween project so I made a quick and easy divider from free clip art. You can use this same method to make a simple clip art border of your own. If you need a vertical border, just create a document in the size and shape you want and use these same basic steps to copy, clean up and paste multiple images in a row or stack:

1. I copied the original Trick or Treat skeleton graphic to my computer's hard drive, then opened up Windows Paint, created a New document,  and pasted the skeleton graphic in the editor window.

2. Next I zoomed in to get a good view of  the image so I could select only the skeleton. I used the selection tool to surround the entire skeleton image but not include the Trick or Treat caption at the bottom of the original graphic.

3. I used the CROP tool to remove the caption, but a little bit of red and black remained. I adjusted the image size without changing the size of the skeleton so I would have more room to work

4. To clean up the new skeleton picture and get rid of the red and black spots, I used the Paint Brush tool with Color 1 set to white, then painted over the spots near the skeleton's feet. 

5. Next I saved the graphic, then created an image measuring the width of the border I needed - 600 pixels - and  pasted the cleaned up skeleton into it at the right side. I then selected ALL and then pasted another copy of the skeleton into this image. I moved it over so it was next to the first skeleton taking care to make sure it wasn't overlapping anywhere.

6. Next I selected the second skeleton and used the Rotate, Flip Horizontal tool to reverse the image. Now I had two skeletons, each facing the other.

7.  Finally, I copied the two skeletons and pasted another pair next to the first set to create my finished Halloween skeletons border.

Halloween Skeletons Clip Art Border