Family Name Plaque

This is my family name plaque. It was pretty easy to make and pretty cheap, I got all the stuff for it for under $10. Here is what you will need:

Wooden letters to spell out your name and

scrapbook paper to trace your letters onto

(I got both of these things at Michael's, the letters come in a variety of sizes and fonts)

mod podge

White and brown paint

glue gun

the wooden 'family' cutout (available at Michael's for .99 cents; it was pre-painted this color, but you can paint it whatever color you want)

the cardboard star (available at Michael's for $1.29)

a Frame (I got it from the dollar store, it holds 3 5x7 photos, but total length inside is 8.5 x 10)

(Looks like this at the dollar store, then I just painted it white)

• So first, (you can see from the pictures) you trace your letters on the scrapbook paper of your choice, and cut them out.
• Then paint the letters white (you only need to do the sides). Paint your frame white (you don't need the glass, save it for a different project, I will have to think of a repurposing project for it).
• Mod Podge the top of the letters after the white paint is dry and stick on the scrapbook paper letter cutouts, then put mod podge over the top of the scrapbook paper, and let dry.
• Paint the star brown. I did it kind of streaky.

• After the star is dry I painted it white (it can be streaky too, doesn't need to be smooth) and let it dry. Then I took one of our rough kitchen sponges and softly went over the dried paint to give it a rustic worn look. I am really happy with how the star turned out).

(close up on the finished star)

• For the brown background, I got a large piece of brown construction paper (I know, construction paper, can you believe it), measured it to the size of the picture frame using the picture frame backing as a stencil, and it carefully crinkled it up (don't tear it).
• Then I took some brown paint and softly did some streaks over it to give it a 'wood' look.
• Then I took the cardboard backing of the picture frame and put a layer of mod podge on that, then laid the construction paper on top of it and mod podged that. I used my fingers to push down the wrinkles and swirled my fingers around to give a textured look. Then let it dry.

(This is what is will look like)

When the paper is dry, use a glue gun to glue on your letters, 'family' cutout, and star. Let dry overnight. Here is the side photo to see how 3D it is, cool huh.

This can obviously be done with whatever colors and scrapbook paper you want. You can switch out the star with any cool little trinket. I was originally thinking of getting a cool metal embellishment to go there. If anyone makes this, I would LOVE to see what you did.

another look at it

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