Our biggest congratulations go to our very deserved winner, Anna Warner for this fantastic photo of a windmill at night. We love the angle the photo was taken from and the effect in the sky is stunning.

Our runner up for May is Rob Antill with his fantastic moonlight shot of the slopes at a mountain ski resort. We love the contrast between the night sky and stars and the snow.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning our June photo competition, you can enter now via our Facebook page. The theme for this month is ‘Fun in the Sun’.

How to Mount and Hang a Picture Frame on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below

<br /> <img src="http://www.pictureframesexpress.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hanging-guide-2.jpg" width="540"></p> <p>How to Mount and Hang a Picture Frame – An infographic by the team at <a href="http://www.pictureframesexpress.co.uk/">Picture Frames Express</a></p> <p>

So you’ve got your favourite photo or piece of  artwork and you’ve got your picture frame; now comes the tricky part. Placing your photo or artwork and fixing your picture frame to the wall for some people is easier said than done. If you do usually struggle with this then follow our handy guide above or simple steps below to prepare and hang your picture frames perfectly every time.

1. Before you get started make sure you have everything you will need. Aside from your frame and hanging hardware all you really need is a screwdriver, hammer, pencil and spirit level. For a heavy duty frame you will also need a drill.
2. Place your frame face down on a clean, soft, flat surface. A dining room table is ideal but a soft carpet is also fine if you would rather work on the floor.
3. Using a flat head screwdriver, very carefully lift the tabs to release the backing of the frame.
4. You should now be able to lift the backing out of the frame. Do so and place it to the side for the time being.
5. You can now remove the glazing from the frame. If the glazing has a protective covering, remove this from both sides being careful not to get finger prints on the internal side.
6. Place the item you are framing between the backing and the glazing.
7. Carefully lower the glazing, item and backing back into the frame and bend the tabs back into place to secure the construction.
8. Use brown tape around the edge of the frame backing. This will add an extra level of security in the construction of the frame and ensure that moisture, dust and creepy crawlies can’t get in.
9. Mark the position for the d-rings with a pencil. In most cases this should be about a third of the way down from the top of the frame. Use a tape measure or ruler to ensure the distances are equal.
10. Place your d-rings over the pencil marks created in the previous step.
11. Using a Phillips head screwdriver attach the d-rings to the frame.
12. Loop the cord through the two d-rings and tie up as securely as possible.
13. Using your trusty pencil once again, mark the position on the wall where you wish to hang your frame. Remember to take into account the slack in your cord.
14. Heavier frames may require a screw to secure them but for lighter frames a nail should suffice. In this case, carefully hammer your nail through the hole in your hanging hook, preferably into a stud. You can then skip to step 18.
15. If you have a heavy duty frame or are hanging your frame on a brick wall you will need to use a screw. Start by drilling a suitably sized hole with your electric drill. Warning: Check the wall for wires and pipes before drilling.
16. Select the correct wall plug for the wall you are using and insert it into the hole.
17. Insert the screw through the hole in the hook and into the wall.
18. Hang your picture frame from the hook.
19. Finally ensure your picture frame is straight and level.
20. And that’s it! All that is left to do is stand back and admire your good work.

If you found this guide useful please do remember to ‘like’ or share. If you think we should add anything or have any ideas for future guides then please let us know in the comments!

March 2012 – Ian Mayou

April 2012 - Kayleigh Parsons-Matcham

May 2012 – Martin Munn

June 2012 – Brigitte Spencer

September 2012 – Sarah Booton

October 2012 – Kerri Bartup

January 2013 – Ellie Street

February 2013 – Tim Matthews

If you thought we were going to stop there you would be very mistaken, the photo competition continues this March with the theme “Step into Spring”. Get your photos of all things Spring submitted via the competition tab on our Facebook page for your chance to win up to £200 in vouchers to spend on our site and join the exclusive club occupied by the few talented men and women mentioned above.

That’s not all; we also have a whole host of other great promotions and competitions in the pipeline. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Google+ to ensure you get all of your Picture Frames Express updates in a timely manner!

After another two great months of our photo competition it’s time for something a little a different again. From now until mid December we are running a children’s art competition!

We are sure you have children yourself or at least in the family, all we’re asking is that they produce a piece of artwork with a Christmas theme. All you have to do is take a photo or a scan of that artwork and upload it to the competition app on our Facebook page.

The artwork can be literally anything you or your child wants. Whether it’s a Christmas card design, a painting, a drawing or even a model of Santa made from cardboard tubes it’s all fine by us!

The prize for the winning entry is a Olympus TOUGH TG-320 digital camera and a £50 framing voucher to frame your winning entry! We specifically chose a camera that was drop and water resistant so you can either give it to your child or at least let them use it if you decide to keep it for yourself!

Entry closes 15th December so we can announce the winner and hopefully get the prize out in time for Christmas!

Good luck, we can’t wait to see your entries!

Winner – Kerri Bartup

Friendship isn’t just a human thing as this photo proves and we couldn’t find a photo that showed it any better. We thought that colours worked really well too, with no distractions from the subject. Well done Kerri!

Runner Up – Faye Thompson

Our runner up is another great photo this time showing the bond between a girl and her dog. We felt the picture stuck to the theme very well and was made better by the bright colours and sun shining through the leaves in the trees.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in the October competition. You can see the top 20 entries on our Facebook page and stay tuned for something a little different in the run up to Christmas!

Winner – Sarah Booton

Well cow about that, our winner for this month, unanimously decided by our judges is Sarah Booton with her photo “How Now Brown Cow”. We found it really amoosing and love the vibrant blue sky in contrast with the cow.

Runner Up – Donna Turbitt

Our runner up for September with her fantastic photo of this windmill at Lytham is Donna Turbitt. We really like the grey scale tones and shadows.

You can view the full top 20 entries from September or enter our October competition on our Facebook page.

Not only does it show great technical merit and timing but we think it captures perfectly the ‘Sights of Summer’. It was in fact the first unanimous decision for our judging panel since we’ve been running this competition!

The runner-up this month is Claudia Esposito-Edge from Leicester with another great example of ‘Sights of Summer’.

We love the vibrant colours and the composition in the shot with the flowers taking focus offset against clean, bright backdrop. As always all of the entries and the top 20 are available to view on our Facebook page.

As you may know by now the June competition will be the last (at least for a while) and we would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone once again for taking part over the last few months. We hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have!

Be sure to let us know on our Facebook page if you think the photo competition should make a return in the next few months or if you have any ideas for other competitions or promotions we could run. You can head over to Facebook or Twitter right now to enter our Amazon Kindle Touch prize draw!

Over the last five months we have had hundreds and hundreds of entries for all of the different themes and some fantastic winners, all of which can be seen in our past blog posts. Keep your eyes fixated on our Facebook page for the next few days to find out if you won the June competition.

Whether or not the photography competition will come back we won’t say for sure right now but we take all of your feedback on board and if there’s enough demand you can be pretty sure it will happen.

As a thank you to all of our followers on our social networks and to attract a few more to join in the great conversations, we are announcing another promotion. We would like to give one lucky follower on Facebook or Twitter an Amazon Kindle Touch.

Entry opens today and runs through until 31st August. You can enter simply by following the instructions on Facebook or on Twitter.

Good luck to everyone and thank you again for continuing to support Picture Frames Express!

Congratulations to our winner this time around, Martin Munn from Smallfield, with his picture of “Dan the stupid donkey”. He takes the top prize of £200 worth of picture frame vouchers!

The contrast of the colours between Dan and the sky looks great and the focus on his face makes it really stick out. In addition to it being a well taken photo we love the element of humour. We can’t help but chuckle every time we see it!

Our runner up and winner of £50 worth of picture frames is Sarah Buckmaster from Wadebridge for her excellent action shot of a dog running on the beach.

We love to see a well done action shot. There were a few good ones this month but this was definitely one of the best. The timing is perfect with all 4 paws off the floor and the ears flying up to meet perfectly in the middle.

We would also like to give an honourable mention to our very close third place choice of an “inquisive pig” from Dan Skinner who unfortunately wont win a prize but it was a brilliant photo nonetheless. You can see all of the entries and the top 20 on our Facebook page.

The June competition is already up and running and we’ve had plenty of top notch entries so far. Since the weather has been picking up recently the theme for this month is ‘Sights of Summer’. You can enter on our Facebook page and as always full details are available in our updated blog post.

We really liked the colour tones in the picture and thought that it encapsulated the theme very well. The road going into the fog in the distance gives it a great sense of depth and the leafless trees make a great focal point.

We would also like to congratulate the runner-up of the April competition, Victoria Christie from Leeds for her photo of Ennerdale Water. She will win £50 worth of picture frames.

We think it captures perfectly how beautiful the British outdoors can be on a sunny day. We especially liked the reflection of the hills and rocks in the water and the range of blues in the sky.

Thank you once more to everyone who took part in the competition. All of the entries were excellent and we were very pleased with the final ten which can be seen in an album on our Facebook page. Be sure to enter our May photography competition. The theme this time is ‘Pets & Animals’, see our updated blog post for full details.