Frame Your Name: clever wall art

Something happens to me during the fall where my interest in domestic affairs spikes exponentially. By domestic affairs, I mean the day-to-day maintenance of my house, not necessarily an increased vigor in national politics. Mainly, it boils down to the fact that I want to burn candles and try new recipes in the crock pot. Toss in a pumpkin dessert, and I'm set.

So, while I'm on my domestic kick, I thought I'd share one more simple idea with you. Last post, I shared how to make an easy, personalized decoration for a kid's bedroom. Today I want to share my absolute favorite wall art idea, which is depicted in this frame below where I spelled our last name with pictures of letters from places that are significant to our family, like our church, the hospital where our children were born, the university we attended, and a local dairy with awesome milkshakes.

You know, the important stuff.

This past summer I created two of these frames as wedding gifts for our friends.  Take this one below.  Each letter tells a different part of the couple's early story -- where they met, where they had their first date, and where he proposed, for example.

This idea could work for more than just wedding presents, of course.  You could easily spell your child's name by taking letters from his or her favorite places -- the library, school, streets, restaurants, or parks.  Or, you and your children could search for letters in everyday settings or from nature to photograph.  An upside down trellis could form an A.  A sideways view of a traffic light would make a convincing E.

There's one glitch, of course.  Unless you can find an enormous picture frame, this only works for names with six or fewer letters.  For us, this means that my youngest daughter never will have her own frame.  (Poor, sweet Kerrington with her beautiful, yet uncommon and lengthy name.  It already was a foregone conclusion that we've forever denied her finding a souvenir key chain with her name on it.  Now it looks like she'll also never get a picture frame, either.)

I'll make it up to her with one of those awesome milkshakes.

Happy framing!