DIY Framed Name Decor

I have a big wall in my daughter's room that no matter what I put on it, everything always looked lost.  I wanted something to take up a lot of the wall space but wasn't about to pay the prices most stores were asking for a big piece of framed decor.  Especially because there wasn't really anything that I found that I was crazy about. 

I decided to make her name out of wooden letters and frame them.  I knew this would be perfect because not only would it be fairly cheap but I could customize it to match the colors in her room.

Supplies I used:

• 6 5x7 silver frames from the dollar store
• 6 wood letters I purchased for .99 each at Michael's
• 6 pieces of scrapbook paper for .59 each at Michael's ( I only ended up using 3 )
• Wired ribbon
• White acrylic paint (.59 at Wal-Mart )
• Spray paint
• Foam brush
• Hot glue gun

I started out by spray painting all of the frames white with some spray paint I already had on hand.  I bought the silver ones because I figured they would be easier to paint over then the black ones the dollar store usually carries.  Why have they not started carrying white frames yet?! Anyway, these are the frames I used.

I removed the glass and backing and spray painted each frame with two coats of white paint.

A little tip:  If you bend back the little clips that hold the back onto the frame, it props the frame up and  makes painting easier because you can paint the sides much quicker and get a full even coat.

While the frames dried, I started on the letters.

I purchased wood letters at Michael's but I wanted them to be white.  Now you can completely skip this step if you actually purchase the wood letters that already come white.  But they were more than $1 extra per letter, so to make this project as cheap as I could, I figured I'd just paint them myself.

I used a cheap foam brush and some acrylic paint that I had purchased at Wal-Mart for a previous project.  I have pretty much every color of paint because for .59, how can you not buy one every time you go into the store??

I gave the letters two coats of paint, letting each coat dry for about 2 hours.

To match my daughter's room colors, I bought two different pieces of scrapbook paper at Michael's.  I measured each one to fit a 5x7 frame and using my paper cutter, cut each piece down to size.

After everything was dry and ready, it was time to assemble each frame.

I placed a piece of paper into each frame and put all the frames back together. 

 I hot glued each letter to the glass.  It's an absolute necessity to use a high temperature glue gun because with a low temperature, the wood letters are too heavy and they'll slide right off.

Am I really that lazy that I didn't even fully remove the sticker from the back?  Yes.  Yes I am!

After all the letters were applied to each frame, I started on the bows.

I decided the length I wanted for the ribbon and measured each piece.  I tied them into a bow, leaving a lot of excess on the bottom so I could hot glue the ribbon to the back of the frame.

I placed a few dabs of glue onto the ribbon and glued them to the back of each frame.

And they were done!

I just hammered a small nail into the wall, hung each frame, and tried covering the nail with a bow as much as I could.  And that's it!

Sorry about the reflection in a few of the frames.  I tried my best :)

For about $12 I have a really cute wall decor piece for my daughter's room that not only takes up a pretty good amount of wall space, but it's personalized just for her!