And now for something on the lighter side.  Whew!  Sigh of relief.

I Am Not Crafty

You must know that about me. I try to do a few things.  I really do.  And as we go on, I will show them to you.   I kind of figure if the directions are fairly simple and especially if they involve pictures, I should be able to do it.   But it does not come naturally to me.  So, my goal in this department is to make something that is pretty cool, yet not complicated.

I want to show you what my crafty little self did with this “what is the meaning of your name” stuff.   That is a link to the post I wrote about finding the meaning of your name, so you might want to read it if you are wondering what the big deal is here.

The Frame

One upon a time, I thought I would try to be CRAFTY.   See, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought these 12″ square black frames (on sale).

The Background Paper

Then, I went to the scrapbooking aisle (don’t even bring that subject up, please.)   I picked out these 12″ square, pretty papers they (not me, but the “real” crafty people) use for scrapbooking.   At first, I got a different paper for each child that went with their personality.  Bad idea.  Don’t do that if you are clutter-phobia.  It seems like a good idea, but it does not pan out if you are going to hang all of your frames together on one wall.

Drag.  That is a Very 70’s Word.

So, I went BACK to Hobby Lobby and exchanged them (exchanging things is such a drag –  especially PAPER for crying out loud.)   I did it because I was on a mission.  So think:  Where will you hang them and what will look good on THAT wall.

I have yellow walls and I love that yellow/red color combination.  Yellow is a happy color.  And I want to be happy as much as possible.  So I went for the striped red and white paper.  The red looks good with the yellow and the white matches…..can you guess……..Right!  The white woodwork!

Then I got pictures of my children and construction paper that matched the scrapbooking paper.

And THEN.  The All Important Tool.

I used this little corner cutter to make the edges round.  If you are not crafty.  Get one of these corner cutters.  Cut the corners off everything and people will think you are really creative.

I gave each picture a little background construction paper frame.  Corners cut off, of course.  Notice 2 pieces of construction paper under her picture

Then I typed up their names and the meaning, and printed them on this semi-transparent paper.  I got that at Hobby Lobby too.  I cut the edges with some kid scissors that gave it a fun border.

I also added a favorite verse to this little area at the bottom with a background frame.

And then   “Voila’!”

What I Would Do Different

Notice the big, weird smudge thing in the middle of the close-up photo of the verse 2 pictures above?  And also on the semi-transparent paper?  That is that double-sided tape.  If I did this over again, I would not use that.  Maybe I would use just a tiny dot of glue or glue stick in the 4 corners of those 2 parts, but by the time I’d gotten these done, there was no way I was going back to change it!  Know what I mean!

And, truthfully, I never notice it.  It is more obvious in these photos than it is in when you are just standing there looking at the frames.

What’s the Point?

My thinking on this is that I really want my children to pass by these day in and day out.   I want the meaning of their names to sink in.  I want them to grow up and say “Yeah, when we were little, my parents had our names and their meanings up on the wall and everyday I would pass by and…..”

I’d like to do one for my husband and me, too.  But that will have to wait for another day.

Ok, go get CRAFTY!

GODSPEED!