Finding Free Summer Borders Clip Art for Desktop Publishing Projects

Summer is a wonderful time of year, full of sunshine, vacations, and outdoor activities. For desktop publishers, bloggers, teachers, and crafters, it’s also a great season to create fun, vibrant designs featuring summer themes. A quick and easy way to add some summer flair is with free printable summer borders and frames Clip art borders with summer motifs like beaches, pools, flowers, and more can spice up layouts for scrapbooks, newsletters, school worksheets, party invites, and tons of other projects.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the best places to find an abundance of high-quality, free summer borders and frames to use in your next desktop publishing project.

Overview of Summer Borders Clip Art

Summer borders clip art typically features bright, cheerful designs relating to the sunny season. Some classic examples include:

• Beach scenes with sand, ocean waves, seashells, beach balls, and other coastal elements
• Pool motifs like water, rafts, inner tubes, and pool toys
• Summer sports including volleyball, baseball, swimming, biking
• Summer foods and drinks like watermelon, lemonade, and ice cream
• Flowers and gardens with sunflowers, daisies, roses, and other blossoms
• Fun summer textures like polka dots, stripes, gingham, and chevron
• Bright, sunny colors like yellow, orange, light blue, lime green
• Vacation and travel items like maps, postcards, suitcases, and sunglasses
• General summer icons like suns, palm trees, and seasonal words

The clip art is available in a wide range of file formats like PNG, JPG, SVG, EPS, and PDF. Sizes also vary from small repeating borders to large full page frames. This versatility makes the graphics perfect for all kinds of projects big and small.

Now let’s explore some top sources for free printable borders and frames with fun summer themes

Top Sites for Free Summer Borders Clip Art

1. Printable Crush

One of my favorite go-to sites for borders and frames is Printable Crush. They have an entire section dedicated to free summer borders with just about any summer motif you can think of

Some examples from their collection include a tropical ocean border, beach ball border, flip flops frame, seashell corners, and an ice cream cone frame. They also have general summer themed borders with bright colors, flowers, and suns.

All borders are available to download in JPG, PNG, and SVG. Sizes range from skinny single borders to large full page editable frames. Printable Crush also offers a free weekly planner kit that contains bonus summer borders.

2. Julie K Handmade

Teacher and paper crafter Julie K Handmade offers a nice selection of free summer borders and frames in her Freebies section.

She has tropical designs like a pineapple frame and flower lei borders. For patriotic summer projects, she has red, white, and blue borders. There are also some nice nautical and ocean themed options like an anchor border and sailboat frames.

Julie K’s borders are primarily available in PNG format in handy printable 8.5″ x 11″ sizes – perfect for seasonal worksheets.

3. The Graphics Fairy

If you’re looking for vintage inspired summer borders, The Graphics Fairy is the place to visit.

She offers lovely antique borders including a seashell corner set, sand dollar dividers, and a seaside postcard frame. There are also some neat retro travel themed options like a vintage suitcase border and camper banner.

Many of The Graphics Fairy’s borders are available in JPG, PNG, and SVG formats ranging from small repeating borders to larger full page frames. She adds new designs weekly so her site is worth bookmarking.

4. Kreative Krafts by Kelly

Kreative Krafts by Kelly is another excellent free resource created by paper crafter and teacher Kelly. She has a section of her site dedicated to free printable borders and frames.

For summer, Kelly has beachy borders like starfish, crabs, and coral. She also has general sunny borders with flowers, dots, diagonal lines, and watercolor textures.

Her borders are primarily in PNG format in convenient 8.5″ x 11″ sizes. She also includes SVG files for many of her designs.

5. IrisBlizzard Designs

The site IrisBlizzard Designs offers a nice selection of free summer borders in their Freebie section.

You’ll find borders featuring lemons, leaves, nautical motifs, and patriotic summer themes. There are also some more general designs with stripes, polka dots, and Moroccan tiles.

The borders are available to download in PNG, JPG, and SVG formats in a variety of convenient sizes.

6. Delia Creates

Delia Creates provides cute free summer borders including designs with sailboats, flip flops, and ocean waves. She also has summery fruit borders featuring pineapples, lemons, and watermelon slices.

Her borders are primarily available as printable PDF and SVG files sized at 5 inches wide. This makes them great for using as borders on cards, scrapbook pages, letterheads, and other projects.

7. Susan Branch Blog

For a vintage, cottage-style take on summer borders, check out the Free Printables section on Susan Branch’s blog.

She offers lovely floral borders and frames with roses, daisies, and other blossoms. There are also some nice beach designs like a seashell border and sand dollar corners.

These borders are primarily available as PNG and JPG images sized around 5×7 inches – perfect for scrapbooking and paper crafts.

8. Primary Possum

Another great free resource for teachers is Primary Possum, created by Aussie teacher Bec Copley. She has a nice collection of free summer borders in her Freebies section.

You’ll find borders with bright summer motifs like bumble bees, sailboats, and beach balls. Great for sprucing up boring worksheets!

Her borders are available in PDF and JPG formats in standard 8.5″ x 11″ sizes ready to print. Lots of the sets include matching bulletin board banners too.

Tips for Using Summer Borders Clip Art

• Print or photocopy borders at the size you need for your project. Many can be resized.

• For cards or scrapbooks, borders around 5 x 7 inches work nicely.

• For blog headers, newsletter headers, and letterheads, longer borders around 8 to 12 inches work well.

• Resize uniform repeating borders to stretch across a full page by tiling or repeating it.

• Print pages with multiple borders and cut them out individually.

• Save your favorites to your desktop or a Graphics folder for quick access later.

• Edit borders or add your own text or images using design software like Canva.

• Print on colored paper or cardstock for more impact.

• Layer different borders together for a collage effect.

Let your creativity run wild this summer by amping up your projects with fun, free printable borders and frames. The endless variety out there means you’ll never lack for options.