Here's one that a friend made for me. The letter is from uppercase living. I love it.

(I am not selling this product, nor do I stand to make any money from any sales...I am just linking to it for information purposes and inspiration) (don't want to get booted LOL!)

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: uppercase living

Ok - dumb question probably, but, what are your initials from? The first letter of your last name, I assume?

Very, very nice! All of your designs are so pretty! I'll be doing one of these!

I did the first initial of our last name but I imagine you can do whatever....if you and your Dh are Mary & John, you could do M & J.

I was thinking of doing my first name. Reminds me of the old Mary Tyler Moore show when she had the big M on her wall shelf.

I used the first initial for my nieces dorm room.

I also think that three initials would look great together, especially if the first and last were the same, and the middle initial was a mirror image letter.

Example: sHs or sMs or cHc (these would look better italicized.)

dafont.com has tons of free fonts for download. I have gotten so many from there.
I like the look on a parchment type paper.

Speaking of initials...I just saw monogrammed pillowcases in king and standard sizes at Homegoods! To die for....

I just love these framed initials! Can you share the fonts you used? mimi 2006 thanks for posting yours! I am thinking of making some Christmas gifts and have looked at various fonts but haven't seen any as nice as yours. Thanks so much...

I *think* I used 150 or somewhere around there on word.

I did one for my parents and used French Script MT (250) in a 4x4 frame. I love this idea! Different letters look better in different fonts - so I just kept trying until I liked what I saw.

Do you think this idea would make a good Christmas gift? I will not have much money for presents this year at all.

I think so. But don't discount homemade gifts of the heart too - family recipe books, memory books and the like - as well as gifts of service. If you know someone who's older and can't drive or do household chores, they'd appreciate a day out or some time spent at their home taking care of things.

I think it is a great gift! I made one for my parents and one for my 93 year old GM (I did all of her initials - HNC). I got the frames at Michael's.

We are also very tight this Christmas so I have been baking cookies, breads and marshmallows to make homemade gift boxes. I got lots of great recipes in the Recipe Exchange board here on GW.

For my DS pre-school teachers I bought Christmas mugs at Michael's and made a hot cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows (homemade marshmallows are The Bomb!).

I just got back from Michaels but I didnt see any cool frames like I see here. I was looking for 4x4 - that is what it looks like in these pictures.
I would like to do some for my nephews who are newleyweds.

Silly question, but are you covering the initials with glass? I can't tell from the photos.

I couldn't get Microsoft Word to go any larger than "72" with any font! How did you do that?

Sameboat - highlight and delete the "72" in the font size box, then type in whatever size you want manually and hit enter/return.

I had planned to make these for friends for Christmas, but the Michael's near me also has a poor frame and easel selection, and I've checked AC Moore also -- no luck. Any other suggestions for where to buy frames?

Hobby Lobby? I have good luck there when I am looking for frames.

Joanns had their easels 25% off and I found a few 5x5 frames, 50% off. Michaels had some beautiful frames with jewels for the holidays.

This is fun!

Laura

Well that is SO COOL! Thank you - this will help me out at work, too! It worked for me!

Don't forget places like TJM, Marshall's & Homegood's for their great selection of frames!I think their selection is way better than Joanne's or Michael's.

Michaels had easels but they weren't very fancy. HG had some ornate frames but since I don't know the decorating "style" of my nephews' wives I want to stay pretty simple.
I would love to know where newhomebuilder and Kcmg got their frames - simple yet elegant.

I am SO using this idea as gifts for a couple of friends! Thank you everyone!

& big thanks for the tip on typing in a larger font size - you learn all sorts of unexpected tips hanging out in this place :-D

My frame opening is 3 x 3. I got the frame at Michaels but it wasn't on the shelves with the photo frames. The kind I got were hanging on the back wall with the bigger wall frames. Don't ask me why, seemed odd to me too, but that's where they were. Just thought I'd pass that on in case it helps somebody find some. I can find a lot of small frames but I liked the wide frame with the small opening.

My easel came from Kirkland's last year. I recently saw some fancy schmancy easels at HG. They were slightly bigger. I also have an easel from pier one.

Sorry, I didn't answer about the frames. I answered about the easel's. Anyway, I have a stash of old/used assorted frames in my closet. I went shopping at home for a change!

Over the last few weeks I've picked up @18 of these frames from Tuesday Morning, Hobby Lobby and Kohls. The smallest frame was 3.5 x 3.5, Largest 5x5. All but one of the easels were purchased at Hobby Lobby, one was purchased at BBB (it was just soooo French, I had to get it, lol).

My frame and easel came from Michael's. I have seen both at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Stein Mart.

Yes, I kept the glass in my frame.

Another little inexpensive project I did for my family this year was framing a small map of Italy/Greek Isles.

We all went to the Mediterranean over the summer, so I thought the map would be a nice memento. I purchased mini gold frames (on sale at Michael's,) for about $1.50 each. I printed, on parchment paper, a photo of a map that I found online. I wrapped each frame/map in a gold foil paper and tied with gold curly ribbon.

I kept one for myself. The others look a little nicer, in that there is not so much parchment showing around the edge. I was too lazy to redo mine.

I thought IÂd give you another spin on this initial/monogram ideaÂ.HereÂs what I like to do to dress up gift bags or packages  you could also frame it.....

In Word, I find a font that I like and then before I print it out, I go into the printing options and choose "outline" and then I print the initial outline onto cardstock. I sit my glass apothecary jar over the initial and trace around it (it works great because you can see through it to get it centered). Cut out circle. Then I take my little Martha Stewart glue pen (it works perfect because it's such a fine/thin line and is not all globby) and fill in the letter with the glue pen. Then I sprinkle my fine glitter over the glue and voila, you have a beautiful glittered initial. If using on a gift bag or package, you can glue trim around it to dress it up more. Here's what it looks like.....

tngardengirl, THAT is just beautiful! I love it. Thanks for giving us yet another idea for initial's/monogram's! What is the name of your font. It's cute!

That is cute! Thanks for the idea.

FYI - You can also feed lunch sized paper bags directly into your printer, Print a saying, initial or a photo, for fun inexpensive gift bags.

Thanks! The font is Curlz and the font size is 200 - I love that one for a fun, whimsical look.

Thanks,
Dawn

Thanks, I like the touch of whimsy too! (I guess the name was a little self explanatory and I would have figured it out!) :)

I also agree that Hobby Lobby has some great frames, and they're usually 50% off (or have been for awhile now, I guess because of the holidays). I came across some metal scroll easels at Wal-Mart that are nice.

AND, the other day at Bed Bath and Beyond I came across some GREAT, interesting easels. If there's a large BB&B around your area, check it out. And don't forget your 20% off coupon!

Also, you could always pick up some textured cardstock in the scrapbooking aisle of Michaels/JoAnns/Hobby Lobby/etc. that you can print on, which might make it look a little more elegant (without you having to do anything else in any graphics program).

Way too cute on that gift bag!! I am so stealing that idea, too.

I did a wedding this summer & I had the intial framed on the Grooms table with his cake. It looked so cool.

Thanks again for the great ideas!

Smiles:)

This is such a cool and easy idea. Now whenever I go to the store I am constantly looking for frames and easels! Everyone will get one this holiday.

On a side note, DH just didn't get this. But we went to a holiday party on the 7th and I made one for the hostess! She loved it! Proudly put it right on the table for all to see!

I found some cool wooden round frames at Kohls over the weekend. My coupon wasn't good till today, so I will go back and get a few! Now to find more easels, will have to go check out BB&B.

Thanks,

Laura

kmcg85 and newhomebuilder - I'd love to know the name of the font that you used for your initials. I made some Christmas gifts using the font Renaissance, but still like yours much better.

arapaho, I had to scroll back up and find out what it was, lol! I used Edwardian Script.

I stole this idea and made these for my coworkers - I found frames (all different) from TJMaxx and bought the parchment paper and easels from Walmart(of all pages - they had a ton of easels in the craft section).

I also stole (borrowed?) this idea...I made framed initials for 12 different families.

Frames I gathered at Michael's. It took awhile because I would wait to use whatever coupon was 'good' each week.

Everyone loved them.

It took tons of stress off of me to have an affordable gift idea far enough in advance to implement it.

Thank you!

Now, about next year....

I believe that I used the Edwardian Script, also.

BTW - My parents loved my map gift.

I also used this idea for holiday gifts, with a bit of a twist - I used very small frames (about 2x2 or 3x3) & used stick-on letters, which I guess are normally used for scrapbooking. The letters had some depth to them.

Some were initials, & some I did "X & Y", for couples who don't share the same last name. It was such a great idea, & much appreciated by the recipients, so a great big Thank You to everyone who posted the inspiration pics!

I also did some with favorite quotes - using the pre-made letters, so that they look sort of like a pasted up ransom note (sorry, I don't know how else to describe it lol). I may do this for other peeps during the year, as I find out their favorite quotes :) A fun project!

Thanks kmcg85 and newhomebuilder for the info on the font. I made these for my sisters for Christmas. I used a 4x4 frame from Michael's that had a ribbon attached to the frame for hanging. I also provided an easel.

Since I don't have a printer, I had to trace the letter from the computer screen and transfer it. I used a striped vellum paper with a solid cream paper behind it. If I had a camera I would post a picture. I know I am living in the dark ages!

Can't thank everyone enough for the wonderful idea and pictures of your beautiful work. My sisters loved them - it's such a wonderful gift!

Why can't I print my inital any larger than the largest size font ( 72 ) that my computer offers? What am I doing wrong?

You need TYPE in the number you want it to be in the box above the scroll down menu. (Don't choose the largest there--type in your own!)

I did that and it didn't work until I clicked on "Enter".
Somehow I missed that step when I read the earlier posts.

I did one for my DD with her initial in Green in old edwardian for Christmas- completely forgot til I saw this thread again. I happened upon a white wooden square frame and an easel at... the dollar tree! I tied a pink ribbon to the easel as she likes pink and green.
I also bought a black square frame and black metal easel for me which of course is still in the bag. Maybe I will do it this weekend, its so easy.
I will definitely be making a bunch next year for Christmas.

It's an easy project and looks expensive. It's a shame I didn't discover this thread before Christmas. Well, now that I know how to do it I'll get an early start for next year.

I used our initials on each side,

Where is the Martha Stewart glue pen available. I was at a Super Joann's today and didn't see it. Is there something comparable?