By Laurie Krosney
sun staff writer

I've Been Framed! by Susan is a shop that can take care of all your framing needs with one stop. Susan Young, the shop's owner, has been in the business for 20 years. She's a member of the board of directors of the Florida Association of Professional Picture Framers as well as a certified picture framer with the Professional Picture Framers Association.

Examples of the wizardry Young can work with a photograph, painting or pair of hockey tickets are all over the walls of the well-lit, pleasant shop.

Take the hockey tickets. They were to a special Tampa Bay Lightening game. Young put them into a box along with a hockey puck and a program from the game, and voila! There you have an interesting piece of memorabilia to hang on your wall.

Or how about the magnificent work she did for a friend who appeared on The Price is Right? Young took a couple of pictures of her friend on the show, the name tag he wore and a few other images of the well-known television program. She put them into a frame with a yellow and red background, including the famous wheel. Then she surrounded the entire work with lights. It's magnificent.

Then there's an antique fishing rod set into a deep frame with a hot muskie lure and its original box, a copy of the insert that came with the lure and pictures of the owner as a child — one with him holding his first fish.

It's this sort of creative framing that is a hallmark of Young's work.

Young said she loves working with her clients. "People have all kinds of things they want framed," Young said. "Whatever it is, I like to help them find the best way to feature it in a way that will make it look good wherever they want to hang it."

She said she tries never to make a final decision for a client.

"If something is really awful, I do try to steer people away from it, but I really like to help people narrow their choices down to three or four and then let them make the decision of what will work well for them."

I've Been Framed! by Susan has a wide variety of matting and frames to choose from. All the materials she uses are acid-free, so things don't yellow in the frames. All the glass she uses protects against ultraviolet light. Clients can choose from clear, non-glare or museum quality.

Young's framed work has won numerous competitions. She took first place in the state competition recently with some framed prints of frogs. They are matted on a background that looks like a pond. There are things that look like reeds or cat tails beside the frog pictures. Both are on display in the shop along with the blue ribbon.

Those framed works are entered into the international competition that will be judged next month in Orlando.

I've Been Framed! by Susan also offers a mobile showroom. She'll bring the van with over 400 samples to your home to help you be sure that what you choose will look good on your walls.

And if you're one of those really busy people, she'll even come to your office and set up in a conference room so you can get your framing done.

I've Been Framed! by Susan is located at 5203 Cortez Road West, Suite #3. That's in the same plaza with Scott Paint and the Family Christian Stores. The phone number is 794-6070.

Hours are from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Thursdays, Young does in-home consultations. The store is closed Sundays.