Memorial Gift Idea

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This is a project I completed several months ago, but I just haven’t had the time to post it. When I went to find the pictures, I realized that I didn’t even have all of them anymore for some reason. However, it’s a project I really enjoyed making, and I felt like others would be interested in doing as well.

My grandfather passed away in October (which I talked about here.) It was a sad event for our family, and we all really miss him. I wanted to create a gift for my dad for Christmas that he could have in his home to remind him of my grandpa, as well as my grandma, who passed away in 1996. I had seen the phrase, “Because someone we love lives in Heaven, we feel a little bit of Heaven in our home” before, and it’s something I always loved. I really wanted to create something with phrase.

Awhile back I saw that someone had created a memorial gift idea with the outline of picture, and I loved it. I could never find that picture again, but I tried to recreate it myself. While it didn’t turn out 100% perfect, I was happy with the final product, and my dad loved it. It now sits in my parent’s living room, and it’s a gentle reminder of the legacy my wonderful grandparents left behind.

Materials:

(we bought most everything I used on this project at Jo-Ann Fabric. Be sure to check out my post on how to save money at Jo-Ann Fabric, including online!)

Wooden Plaque
Foam Paint Brushes (several)
Base Paint (typically something like cream or white)
Top Paint (needs to be darker than the base paint. We used a brownish red.)
Sand Paper
Silhouette Machine
Vinyl (THIS brand is my favorite)
This cut file
Mod Podge
Sawtooth Hanger

Step One:

Paint your wooden plaque with the base paint and let it dry.

Step Two:

Paint with top coat of paint and let dry. You may want to do two coats.

Step Three:

Distress the edges by gently sanding any area that you want to be distressed.

Step Four:

Upload the picture that you want to use (I used a photo of my Grandpa and Grandma) to your Silhouette software. I would follow these instructions for tracing a photo in a Silhouette machine. You can also do this in Photoshop and probably even in Paint.net (free alternative to Photoshop.)

Step Five:

You will then want to save this file as a .jpg and print off. I would print it on photo paper (either at home or to the store.) At first I was going to try and use vinyl, but it was too hard to do. I printed it off in a circle shape, and then cut the circle out. Size will depend on how large you want it and how big your plaque is.

Step Six:

Place the photo on the desired space on the wooden plaque. Apply with glue or other adhesive. Let dry.

Step Seven:

Purchase this cut file, or create something similar on your Silhouette with the same phrase. Send it to cut on your Silhouette. I chose to use vinyl, which I placed on the board. However, you could also create a stencil and paint it on. Whatever you would rather! Size will depend on how large you want it and how big your plaque is.

Step Eight:

Apply the vinyl (or paint on with the stencil) the phrase on the other side of the frame. If you painted it, let the paint dry completely before removing.