I have been long awaiting finishing this pair of projects, and finally I can post on it!

Some time ago, I came across a cool idea on Etsy, which is a creative ocean of all things delicate, inspiring, and empowering for the aspiring artisan.

The idea can be found Little Acorns by Ro , photographs on that Etsy site are credited to another dear photographer friend and fellow blogger of mine.

This DIY (do.it.yourself) framed work that can be written on with a dry-erase marker to tell a special someone all the different reasons why you love them, as often as you would like.

It makes for a very positive and constant source of support and encouragement, it is completely personalized, and is additionally super cute, and affordable and fun to make.

I love the idea, and set my mind to make it myself. This Nutrition Student at a Medical School Somewhere needed a creative outlet and a project to do with her hands, after all…

So, as a treat after a long day of studying, I headed over to Michaels craft supply store and walked up and down all the aisles collecting my bounty.

This included:
– zots, self-adhesive dots that come in a variety of sizes (which I learned about at the Paper Source workshop I wrote about previously)
-simple black ribbon
-heart stickers (which abound with the approach of valentine’s day)
-fine papers (from Paper Source)
-two frames
-raised letter stickers (I searched for vinyl letters and although I found them, they were not generally available in cool fonts and the size I wanted, so I opted for these which are inexpensive and readily available in a variety of styles – from cursive, to script, to block lettering, and in a variety of colors and with or without glitter…)

I already had:
-an exacto knife
-clear tape
-a self-healing craft board
-scissors

BrownBear and BlueBoots had two craft nights and worked on them together one with ice cream from our favorite neighborhood shop, Toscanini’s (italian egg nog and hydrox cookie!) and set to work. Are you excited to see how they turned out?

How to Make an I Love You Because ______ Board

1. Cut the paper to fit the size window on the frame.
2. cut out the letters with the backing attached and arrange them on the paper.
3. Select a heart decal or sticker. I found metal ones that had the word “love” on them, and was so tickled by a shape with the word I wanted already engraved on it. 🙂
4. Remove the backing on the stickers and place them on the paper as desired.
5. Cut a piece of ribbon to make the _____ blank.
6. Here’s the trickiest part (which isn’t that tricky, don’t worry). When you place the zots on the ribbon, you have to pay close attention. You’ll want to do this on a craft board, or some surface that isn’t the paper you are working on for the project. It’s not too difficult to remove if you make a mistake, but it’s easiest to just be careful. BrownBear was very good at this, so this was his task.
I placed the zots about 1 inch apart all the way down the ribbon, then flipped it over and placed it gently on the paper in case of a need for adjustment. Then I smoothed it down. Easy.
7. Place the paper in the frame, close it up, and you’re done!
8. Get out your dry erase marker and write something on the line!

I think it’s so important to verbalize or express specific things about the special people in your life that you love and appreciate.

It helps make a friendship, a family, a relationship that much stronger if we all can take a moment to remind ourselves why the people in our lives are important to us, and so that they can know they’re loved and appreciated as well.

So, spread the news and make however many of these as you would like. They’re a lot of fun! Plus, it is the first day of February…and there’s a holiday some people will be celebrating in two weeks, wink wink…
I wanted to work on this project with BrownBear, and after a couple of craft nights, we finally finished them.

This is the one we made for BrownBear. I think he likes it. It’s bright and cheerful like he is.

and this is the one we made for me! (what he later wrote on the line when he sent me out of the room was: …you get me to try new things! 🙂 ) See, happy first-time crafters can be born.

Happy Crafting!

BlueBoots & BrownBear