Name Frame

For weeks I have been trying to think of the perfect gift for a friend's daughter who will be turning one very soon. I have decided from now on to avoid the temptation of giving children birthday presents that will only be used for a short amount of time and then thrown away--and forgotten. I wanted to create something personalized, but I didn't feel like creating another growth chart this time. This is why I love the internet, and blogs in particular. I came across a personalized name frame which you will find here. This blogger got the idea from another blogger, Jayma Malme, who gave specific instructions on how to create the name frame on her blog. I decided to give it a try. 

The only things I had to buy were a frame and an 8 x10 mat, both of which were 60% off at Joann's this week because of Veteran's Day. Score. Everything else I already had...The birthday girl already has her room decked out in a cute owl theme in pinks and purples, so I wanted to create something that would fit perfectly with her decor. Per Jayma's instructions, I cut 20 1.75" squares out of cardstock. The patterned paper I used came from the same 6x6" paper pad called Country Drive from Echo Park. The great thing about these double sided papers is that they already are color coordinated, so there was no need to try to match colors on my own. I dry embossed the solid squares in different patterns using my BigShot to give more dimension to the paper.

I then cut out 5 1.25" white squares out of embossed cardstock scraps I had lying around. These were to act as the base for the letters in her name. Using the Cricut I cut out 1" letters to spell her name, including their shadows. These I glued together and added some Wink of Stella, then mounted on foam dots onto the white squares. For an extra added touch I cut out numbers for her birthday and added Glossy Accents to them to give them some dimension. I used washi tape instead of using a pencil to make a grid on my Bazzill cardstock base in Candy Necklace. This way there is no need to erase any pencil lines later. As Jayme was smart to point out,the inner measurements of the mat usually are less than exactly 8x10", but the squares still fit perfectly with even borders all around. To add some dimension I punched out two layered butterflies using scraps and this Butterfly punch from EK tools. I added some glitter to the body and created flight trails using liquid pearls in white opal.

Almost done!

Glossy accents 

"Wink of Stella"--fied!!

Looks so great in a frame!

I lined the backside of the mat with foam tape all along the inner cut edge. This way, when the Bazzill cardstock is placed behind the mat, it will not move or shift; more importantly, it also allows some extra room for the butterflies and letters to remain raised and 3-dimensional. The letters and the butterflies won't get smushed up against the glass. It makes it look like a very shallow shadow box. Jayma doesn't mat her name frames, but I think it makes the project look a lot more complete and gives it the look of "store bought".

I, of course, had to make the coordinating birthday card--again I used the same papers and Bazzill cardstock. I used my Cricut to cut out the oval, the scalloped oval, and the "1." I used my Stamps of Life Owls2Love set. I stamped and embossed the owl in black and colored it in with my alcohol markers, fussycut it out and added Wink of Stella. I used Versamark to create a watermark using the smaller owl stamp on the Bazzill cardstock. Voila!