As the holiday season approached, I began to rack my brain...what do we give those people in our lives who have everything?
I was browsing through Pinterest and came across a picture of a picture frame memory wreath, and I knew this was the gift!
Here is the blog: http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2012/10/picture-frame-memory-wreath.html
I loved the idea of all the frames and it looked amazing. When I started shopping for supplies, I realized that the number of frames needed would definitely push me over budget. So, this is what I came up with...
I bought the grapevine wreathes (like in the original), however instead of frames I bought Balsa wood from the craft store, some Mod podge, and a good quality glue gun from the hardware store. I also bought a roll of "burlap" like ribbon. I wanted my gift receivers to be able to display them throughout the year, so went with a brown color instead of a Christmassy color.
I had my husband cut the Balsa wood into 2 1/2" X 2 3/4" "squares". Balsa wood can be purchased in different sizes sheets. I found some cut into long strips, and we just had to cut those once.
I then printed out pics onto white card stock, I used the wallet print feature when printing. Wallet size prints were larger than my squares, I just trimmed each, using one square as a template.
Gathering the pictures was the most difficult part of this project. It is so hard to choose. I printed out way more pics (45) than I could fit! I made two wreaths, and used more on one than the other. If you stack them just right, you can fit many!
After the pics are cut to size, I "painted" mod podge on the wood squares and glued the pic to it and then applied a layer of mod podge on top of the pic for a nice smooth matte finish. Took a few minutes to dry.
I waited about 30 minutes before gluing all the picture squares to the wreath, just to make sure all the mod podge was dry!
**Before you begin gluing the picture squares to the wreath, set them on the wreath and work on placement.
After gluing all the pics on the wreath, I made a large bow with the ribbon and glued it gently to the top of the wreath. I didn't want the bow to interfere with viewing any of the pictures.
I made one for each set of grandparents and they were a HUGE hit! Tears were shed!
I will definitely be making one for myself!
*Minus the cost of the card-stock and glue gun and glue sticks, both wreaths together cost @ $26!*
