Easy adorable baby present - The Name Frame

I have been really lax lately in getting new baby presents. My best friend Jess had her second boy, Colin, in January and I STILL haven't gotten him a present.  So this past week I finally got everything together to make him a name frame.  You've probably seen these type of names made out of pictures of interesting things in nature or architecture and they can sell for a lot!  I will show you how to make it, framed, for under 40$.

First you need to get the pictures.  You COULD go out and look for things to photograph, but really this could take a while depending on the letters you need to find.  So I use www.Alfabetfotos.com.  Michael Gibbons has a great selection of individual letter photos and you can mix and match and choose which you like best.  They run about 3.20$ per 4x6 plus shipping.  For a 5-letter name I paid 17$ with shipping.

Now you need a frame.  In the past I have used the 5 slot Ribba frame from Ikea which was nice because it was easy to position the letters in each slot of the mat.  But apparently this isn't available anymore (at least not at my local Ikea) so I got this frame at Michaels Craft Store during a sale for about 18$

Now this one of those see-through glass frames with no mat. I decided I would use some scrapbooking paper I had and the pieces I had were 8x8 inches.  I taped three pieces together as shown here for an 8x24 inch background which will leave a nice open border around the name.  

Then dry-position the letters.  I use a tape measure to ballpark the spaces in between and at the top, bottom and sides of the letters. After dry-positioning, I use a small roll of scotch tape to affix the letters in place to the background paper.

Now place the letters/background in the frame and Voila,. You are done.