Floating Picture Frames

I am almost through week two of living in my new place, and I have been continuing to work on decorating. I LOVE having pictures all over but get sick of the same old picture frames. While shopping around for picture frames a few years ago I came across the floating frames at Michaels or JoAnns and I really like them. They allow you to be as creative as you want. They also allow you to do  different size pictures and patterned papers.

If you don't know what a floating picture frame is, it is basically just a two pieces of glass with pictures in between inside a frame. You can buy one here.

I gathered the pictures that I wanted to put in my frame, a "family" paper cut-out, some different patterned scrapbooking paper, and tape. 

I arranged my paictures the way I wanted them, did any cropping I found necessary, and then when it was the way I wanted, I taped it all down. You do not have to do any taping, but sometimes the frame doesn't hold the glass close enough together and pictures slide around. 

 This is my finished product!

(note: The pictures I used are big! I have three 5x7s, an 8x10, and a 4x6 that I cut down. If you use smaller pictures you can fit many more!)

(If you have walls that are not white, you should think about the color when deciding on pictures or paper that you will use. If the colors are too similar to your wall, you might have a hard time seeing the beautiful pictures in the frame.)

More ideas:
-Diploma, with pictures from graduation. If there is an achievers, or any other scrapbooking store, near you they often have different stickers and embellishments from the local high schools that you can add to it to make it look more professional. Otherwise DIY is always good! 

-Baby pictures. I have been taking pictures monthly and plan to make a floating frame with a picture from each month to show how much he has changed in the first year. Smaller Pictures around the outside and a larger one in the middle with letters showing what month each picture is from.

-School Pictures, K-12. You can find paper that shows their favorite thing from that year (a sport, a cartoon caracter, pink sparkles, cookies, etc.) and frame each picture so you remember what they liked at each age. 

Bridesmaid Gifts

In my attempt to have a small wedding, I have decided to have a pretty large wedding party. Surely having 8 bridesmaids isn't that many right? Okay, I will stop kidding myself, it's a lot. But since the wedding is out of town we are making a weekend out of it. And hey, the more the merrier! So anyway I decided to have 3 maids of honor, and 5 bridesmaids and I wanted to ask them in a special way. I started looking around pinterest (obviously!) and I found a few cute ideas, but couldn't quite decide. I kind of knew I wanted to do a box of some sort with stuff inside. So I went to Joanne's and this is what I bought:

I got a cardboard chest looking box for each girl, paint in my wedding colors, paintbrushes, little flower embellishments in my colors and some scrapbooking paper. The total for all of this was around $100.

I guess I should mention I already decided that the MOHs would be wearing purple and the BMs would be wearing the aqua (Malibu). So I painted the outside of each box the color of the dress they would be wearing and the inside the other color.

Ex: of MOH box

After this I had to decide what I wanted to put in the box. On a random trip to target, I went in the travel section and decided that it would be a cute idea to put some travel sized items that they could use that weekend. Inside I put a shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, sunscreen, hairspray, toothbrush and toothpaste, and mouthwash. I also found mini bottles of flavored margarita mix that made one drink (non alcoholic). I put in one bottle per box. I also bought little plastic diamond rings that I put in there too, along with a little cards that said a little about the wedding and wedding party.

Here is what they looked like completed:

I used Modge Podge to attach the scrapbooking paper with their names onto the lid of the box, and the "Will you be my Maid of Honor?" sign to the inside. If I had unlimited resources I would have wanted to add some rhinestones, but I think they turned out pretty nice!

You can see that their are cards inside.
Card 1: Was just a little thing I wrote saying that we had been through so much together and that I wanted them to be up their with me.
Card 2: Explained that the wedding was out of town, it said the date, the name of the resort, and that we would be staying together in a townhome that weekend.
Card 3: was a picture of the dress wit the price.
Card 4: Told them the name of everyone in the wedding.

It was a little time consuming, but it was worth it!