new nieces

Five days ago my sister-in-law gave birth to identical twin girls!  Isabella Frances and Siena Marie.  How exciting!  I remember when I was little it was my dream to have twin girls.  I think that's what every little girl dreams of!  Their wedding, and having twin baby girls.  Why?  I'm not sure, but it was definitely my dream.  So when our sister told us she was pregnant with twin girls, we were ecstatic for her and her husband.

To honor their coming into the world, I got an idea for making a piece of all art for each of them to hang up in their nursery.  I love how they turned out!

Isabella Frances Crandall

Siena Marie Crandall

Super easy to make too!  What I used was:

-$9.99 mated frame from IKEA

-craft paper

-textured hemp fabric (any type of textural fabric would work ... I found this in the reminent basket at JoAnn's)

-alphabet stamps and ink

-craft label holders

And here's how:

1) Design and print out the initials you want to use (I did mine in Microsoft Word, using the Art tool and chose the outlined letters option) onto your craft paper.  You could also use old piano sheet music or old book pages to print your letters out on.

2) Cut out your letters ... carefully!  I ended up wanting an outline to the letters, so I glued them onto a piece of regular printer paper and then cut along the outside of the letters, leaving an even space.

3) Glue your letters onto your background paper (making sure to leave space for placement of the label holders).

4) Cut the background paper down to the desired size.  I ended up cutting mine 1/2" smaller than the opening (leaving 1/4" inch all around).

5) Glue the background paper onto your textured fabric, which should cover the entire opening, leaving extra for overlap onto the back of the mat.

6) Stamp out the child's name onto regular printer paper (or a velum or other desired paper).  I actually wanted to stamp out the meaning of each of their names, but #1 I didn't have enough room within the size of the label holders I got, and #2 The name Isabella has a beautiful meaning, but the name Siena, though a beautiful name, didn't have as much of a beautiful meaning.  I also thought about stamping their birth dates, but I don't have number stamps, so I ended up just stamping their names spelled out.

7) Attach the stamped paper to the label holder and attach the label holder to the background paper and fabric.

8) Place in frame opening and tape in place (to avoid sliding down).

Wallah!  A beautiful, personalized piece of wall art!