We have two wedding showers coming up at church and usually I make personalized casserole dishes by etching the new name onto the glass. But I’ve given over half a dozen of these, so this time around I thought I would try something new. I visited Goodwill and Salvation Army and walked away with two picture frames-having only spent $3! Here’s what I came up with.

These frames were so fun to convert! I’m tempted to make one for myself, except for there are only 3 letters in my last name, so it might not look so nice. =(

If your interested in how to transform your own frame, here’s the details.

First, buy a frame (mine were about 20″ long. You could go longer or shorter depending on how many letters are in the name). Like I said, I found mine at a Goodwill and Salvation Army for $3 total. I found another one today at a yard sale for 50¢! If you can’t find the color you want, just spray paint it. I used the 97¢ stuff and it worked fine.

Next, using your cricut (or other cutting machine), cut out your name on vinyl (I used black cricut cuttables vinyl- sold at Wal-Mart. The settings on my cricut were: blade depth-3, speed-3, pressure-3.This resulted in what’s called a “kiss cut,” where the vinyl is cut, but the backing is not.). I used the program “Sure Cuts-A-Lot” to cut mine. I have version 2.0, so it works with my cricut. The current version does not work with cricuts. You don’t have to have a cutting software though, just use a cartridge that has a font that you like. Or, if you don’t have a cricut, you can order pre-cut vinyl letters from a number of sites online.

Weed your design by peeling off the pieces of vinyl you don’t want. Be careful to not let the sticky scraps get a hold of your lettering. I cut strips off as a I go to prevent that from happening.

Place transfer tape (again, I used the cricut brand from Wal-Mart because that’s all that is available in my small town!) across your name. Use the red grid lines to your advantage. They will help you center your image on the glass, so keep them straight!

Peal the backing off the vinyl. As you peal, be sure the letters stick to the transfer tape.

This is the scariest part to me- putting your sticker on the glass. To make this part easier, I placed my cricut mat face down underneath the glass. This provided a grid for me to line my transfer tape up with. It also helped me get the sticker  level by making sure the lines in both grids were parallel. You may also find it useful to make marks on your glass. You can do that by using pencil eyeliner. Once you’ve got it lined up press down on your design. I pressed from the middle (because I had just lined up the center grid line on my sticker to the one on the mat below), and worked my way out to the edges.) Once the sticker is applied, peel off the tape to reveal your name!

I love the way the shadow plays on the wall.

See what I mean?

FYI:

• For the “Kittinger” frame I used the (free!) font, “Alex Brush.”
• For the “McGrath” frame I used the (also free!!) font, “Simply Glamorous.”
• I spray painted the  ”Kittinger” frame, but couldn’t find a cheep brown spray paint at Wal-Mart, so I used an acrylic paint for the “McGrath” frame. First, I sanded the frame so that it would be more porous. Then I used to coats of the acrylic paint and finished it with two coats of modge podge to protect the paint and give it a shine.
• Total I spent $5 on new supplies for these two frames. Here’s the breakdown:
  • Frames: $3
  • Spray paint: 97¢
  • Acrylic paint: $1-ish
• I already had the vinyl on hand, but originally I paid $9 for two 12″ x 24″ sheets. So to make these frames it cost about $9 total! (Judging that I used about $4 worth of vinyl.)

So now I have two wedding presents that (to me) are worth at least $20. I know they were inexpensive, but I’ll be proud to give them!

What’s your go-to wedding gift?

I’m linking to Fireflies and Jellybeans, Finding Fabulous, My Romantic Home, and It’s a Hodgpodge Life.