How To: Make a Thoughtful Gift (Part 1)

Every year my dad's birthday rolls around, I never know what to get him. He has to be one of the hardest people to shop for (besides Joe, of course)--and if you ask him what he wants, he'll just tell you not to get him anything. I cant just not get him something! My sisters and I usually just bought him new shirts or lots of candy (until recently when we started taking him out on 'dates' as his birthday presents so that he'd get one-on-one time with us). Having the kids with me 24/7 makes it difficult to take him out on dates, and I'm the kind of person who loves getting presents on my actual birthday--so of course I prefer to not give an 'IOU' for a date.
This year I decided to get creative and make him something. He hates when we spend tons of money on his gifts, and he would much rather prefer that its hand-made (just like we were 6 years old again). My mom happened to pin this idea on Pinterest, which in turn I ended up pinning as well. This sign is for sale on etsy for $70--but sorry, I'm not going to spend that. I was able to make it for $20, AND its more meaningful because I made it. This one is specifically for a dad, but you could customize it and put a quote in for a mom, sister, or friend. Here's what you'll need:

I used a black canvas, two sheets of scrapbook paper, lots and lots of letter stickers, a black frame, and some mod podge.

Mod podge your scrapbook paper onto your canvas and let dry. Then, decide what you want it to say and cut out the letters individually (doing so helps you figure out spacing so that you aren't committed to placement before you try it). 

Play around with the placement of the words, and once you're happy with how it looks, place them on the canvas. Give it one more coat of mod podge just to seal the letters on. 

Pick out a picture for your frame then glue the entire frame onto the canvas. Once dry, you can hang it up! Done! :)

I love how this turned out and my dad loved it too. Heartfelt gifts are so much better than store-bought (although you'd never see me complaining about a gift card!). Go ahead and try this and see the reactions you get; guaranteed the recipient of something like this will be blown away by the amount of thought and effort you put into it :)