Oh, Baby - Initial Art Gift Idea

Even though I have some upcoming blog posts planned about our newly painted walls, I haven't had time to work on actually writing them yet. Sad face. So in the meantime, I'm sharing this quick and easy gift idea. 

Let's rewind to a few years ago, when I made this personalized nursery letter artwork for one of our friends who had a baby boy:

I wanted to use a similar concept for another friend who just had a little girl recently. The only things I knew were A) their nursery was mint green and B) I wanted the final piece to have a sort of rustic/natural/sophisticated vibe. I wasn't sure how it would all come together, but all it took was a trip to Hobby Lobby to peruse the aisles for inspiration. At the end of the trip, my basket included an 8x10 frame, a piece of scrapbook paper, a chipboard letter, and some jute. 

After taking the glass out of the frame (because it wasn't going to fit after adding the three-dimensional chipboard letter), I used matte Mod Podge to glue the scrapbook paper directly onto the black backboard. Then I sealed the scrapbook paper with a layer of Mod Podge just for good measure. The part that took the most patience was wrapping the chipboard letter with jute (and hot gluing it every so often), but even that wasn't so bad. I then hot glued the letter to the backboard. 

Now, it would have been just fine at that point, but there still seemed something missing... perhaps little flowers or cute buttons to add some girly flair? So I returned to Hobby Lobby to check out all the options and came across some crocheted, bejeweled "flowers" that were just perfect. Not only did it add just the right amount of girly flair, but also a pop of mint green. I glued them onto the letter, and voila!

The total cost for this gift was around $15 once the Hobby Lobby discounts and coupon(s) were applied. And of course, it was made with love and that's priceless right??