First View of a Wedding & Frame Filled With Love Tutorial!

On their way into the temple, still Lindsey Reynolds and Austin Hannan.

Just about to step inside! So exciting!

And here they are...Mr. & Mrs. Hannan! So many smiles and so much happiness!

     I have been fairly absent during this past week with all of the excitement of the wedding going on.  Everything turned out beautifully and the smile on my daughter's face is worth all of the sleep deprivation of the last few days.  There will be many more pictures coming about the fun things we did to make this event even more special and fun! My niece, Tara Fritz, is a professional photographer who came from Las Vegas to take her photos. I can't wait to see them and share them with you.  Also, look at Lindsey's beautiful bouquet, Her sister, Alicia, made it for her.  Our dear friend, Tracy Moore, did her hair (and all of our hair, and redid it before the reception! Plus, she and her daughter ME, did our nails!)  We had so much help and support from friends and family, I can't even begin to list them all here, but they all added so much to the success of the day.  
       One of the ideas that we used to make the reception fun and a little interactive with the guests was our special sign in frame! You may have seen these on etsy.  We did and decided we had to figure out how to make one for Lindsey and Austin's wedding reception. We call it The Filled With Love Frame. Here is how it turned out:

      The way you use it is to have little hearts that guests sign their names on and then drop them into a little slot on the top of the frame.  

        If you want to see how we made it, click read more below.

​        I also wanted to make you aware of one of my affiliates who is having a great deal for the next two days!Oriental Trading  is having a special of 2 days of free shipping on any order!  They are a terrific resource for teachers and students for back to school items, or for any wedding or party you may be planning. 

       

      To make the Filled with Love Frame, this is what we did.  Click on each picture for directions.

I went to Michael's and purchased this frame because I thought it was wooden. We wanted something we could cut the slot into.

I also purchased a piece of masonite that was larger than the frame opening. Our frame is 11 x 14. The masonite is 12 x16.

I purchased a bunch of packages of these little hearts that were slightly narrower than the depth of the frame.

Then I bought one larger wooden heart to put Lindsey and Austin's names on, plus their wedding date.

        For this project, I got my husband in on the act.  He is always good at helping me with the logistics of my projects.  

He used one of the little hearts go figure out how wide of a slot he wanted to cut. We cut the slot to one side of the top of the frame. He drew lines slightly farther apart than the widest part of the hearts.

You can see him drawing lines on each side of the heart.

He used a miter saw to cut the slot.

Here he is cutting.

To cut out the bottom part of the slot, he used his utility knife.

It cut out really easily because this is when we discovered this frame isn't really made of wood, but of a pressed paper product. Oh well, it looks nice and was easy to cut.

        After the cutting was done, Madalynn and I got in on the action of making it.

To protect the slot, I painted it in an off white acrylic paint.

Next, I glued the glass into the frame with E-6000 glue.

I used the little clamps in the frame to hold the glass in place until it dried. You can also see the holes my husband predrilled to use to screw on the new back.

Madalynn painted the large heart and wrote the names and date on it. First she did it in gold, but that was too hard to see, so we shadowed it in brown. This was done in Sharpie. Since the masonite was brown on one side, it fit our colors, so we glued the heart on the brown side with E-6000 glue. You can see my tube is starting to run low. Of course, you can paint your heart and board whatever colors you need.

Then we screwed the board onto the back of the frame with washers and screws. This gives enough room for the hearts to slip down into the frame.

We used a glass heart shaped dish from the dollar store to hold the hearts at the reception.

        If you have any questions that I didn't cover, please ask me! This will be a great keepsake for the bride and groom!