Two It Yourself: DIY Chunky Wood Frame (Makes a Great Personalized Baby Gift)

After I had both of my children I received some really beautiful gifts. I loved every one of them, but those I cherish the most are the ones that are personalized. This sign for instance is one of my favorite. A friend of mine had casually asked about my son's nursery theme during a conversation and then ordered a sign on Etsy with an airplane tugging a sign with his name on it. I just love it.

So when a friend had a baby recently I thought - ya know, I wanna be the one that gives that gift. Of course, I had to make it. Honestly the basic chunky wood sign was easy to make. All that text did make the project a little hairy at times, but I have a few tips to make it easier.

I purchased a basic wood frame and a smaller frame for the center at my local craft store. Using the two frames together just gives it that chunkier feel that I really like.

The first thing I did was paint both the frames. I tried spray painting the white one initially, but it was just not working. I think the weather is too cold for spray paint right now. I ended up just painting it with white acrylic craft paint and sanded it down along the bumpy area to give it some dimension.

The larger frame I painted in the mint green chalk paint I had left over from the dresser drawer to storage box project.

Once the green paint was dry, I used my Silhouette to design and cut my stencil.

If you don't have a die cut machine, no worries. You can easily get the same effect with letter stickers, thickers, or even stamps. (I did something very similar here using thickers.) Any areas that didn't get filled with text, I filled in with some cute baby items. It's not perfect by any means, but if you are painting on the design, sanding it lightly after the paint is dry will help smooth it out. TIP: You may want to place the smaller frame down on the larger frame and lightly trace around it so you have a 'safe zone'. This will prevent any words from being covered when you permanently attach the center frame.

Before I put the two frames together I cut a square of wrapping paper to size and mod podged it in the middle where the picture will go.

I used a hot glue gun to attach the smaller frame to the larger one.

I also hot glued two mini clothes pins in the center square. These are just for holding the picture. A clip would also work or even four little photo corners.