Tuesday, April 20, 2010

What’s in a Name?

Alphabet Photography Dollar Store Style!
I first saw alphabet photography over at Little Lizard King back in December. It was something I knew I wanted to do but the cost of the collage frames was way more than I usually like to spend on a project…especially if you have a name or other word with more than 4 letters!
Sooo…I kind of tabled the idea, but I found myself looking for letters of the alphabet everywhere! In nature, architecture, the playground…some popped right out at me and others were difficult to find and the more I tried, the better they hid. I found a few:
108_0767 108_0765 108_0766 An S, U and O. They are unedited here. I have a few others too, but am waiting to share them on another project! :-)
LLK also shared that photobucket is a great place to find alphabet photos. I’ve found some by doing a  google search for alphabet photography, but you have to sift through as most of the results are sites that would like to sell you their ready made art. If you look at some of them you can at least get ideas for where to look for your own “letters” to photograph! ;-)
I shared the idea of names in photography with my “in real life friend”, Cindy. She liked it, so I thought I would try it out as a gift for her birthday (which was Groundhog Day, but we won’t go there….she knows me and how I procrastinate wait ‘til I have everything just right) Originally she thought she would put this on her mantle so I went with the idea of each letter in a separate frame. Then she decided to put it on her wall and I thought, why not? Just because we are seeing this sold in collage frames, why can’t it be done individually?
This is what I did:
I started with 5  5”x7” Dollar Tree Frames, and some really awesome scrapbook paper. The frames are plastic, but you would never know it unless you touch them! The design doesn’t look Dollar Tree at all!108_0773 The paper is has a texture that is great for mats:108_0775
Then I took a 5x7 mat that I already had and traced out 4 rectangles on the back of the paper. I used my paper trimmer and cut them out.
108_0776 
I used the mat to trace out the inside of the mat and used the trimmer again to cut it out.
 108_0777
I found the letters in her name on the internet, turned them  to black and white if they weren’t already and had them printed at Walmart.108_0778
I popped them into the frames, behind the “mats”.
108_0787 108_0788
 108_0789 108_0790
            108_0791 
And now “Ryals” is all finished  before the next Groundhog Day!ryals finished
I am sorry about the picture quality and the glare on the glass. I need a “taking pictures for your blog” class!
Happy Early for Next Year Late Birthday Cindy!!

Maybe Cindy will let me share a picture when they are up on her wall??


I'll be sharing this at Cheri's Blog hop!



And at these parties:

The Trendy Treehouse

Photobucket
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15 comments:

  1. I love the whole concept of this pictorial collage of letters from architecture. I also like that you used fabric for the matting. It really turned out beautiful. I would be honored if you would also link this project to the boardwalk Bragfest on Wednesday (link is up now). There isn't anything like that on the links!

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  2. OMG, I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE this!!!!!! Great job girl! Hey, thanks again for guest posting yesterday...I really really appreciate it :) (hugs)

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  3. I LOVE this and really want to do one but could you imagine POFFENBERGER ?? It would take up my whole wall :o) Maybe I an figure something out...

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  4. love love love it!! what a wonderful idea!

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  5. Sharon, THAT is AMAZING!!! I love it... I've wanted one of those too.... so now I gotta start looking for "TODDS"....

    YAY... So cool.

    Thanks for the idea!

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  6. I really appreciate your linking to the Boardwalk Bragfest! Great project!

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  7. Your alphabet pictures turned out so well, I would never guess that you did them yourself. Fantastic!

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  8. Very cool, our last name is so long that I couldn't find frames with enough spaces so it looks like it's safe to go ahead with individual frames for each letter. Nice job!

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  9. Love this! I might just have to make one!

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  10. What a great project. The dollar store, huh?
    Thanks for linking up to Saturday is Crafty Day! I hope to see you back next week!

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  11. Cute idea! I really like it!! Thanks for linking Fluant it Friday! Come back next week! :)

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  12. I love alphabet art so when I saw this, I was swooning! I am featuring it as part of 'Look at me, I'm SO Crafty!' at Fun to Craft. Thanks for linking them up. Come by and snag a featured button.

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  13. Hi, Sharon!

    I found you via Remodelaholic and am your newest follower.

    I'd love it if you stopped by http://www.paringdown.com to check out my little blog and give me a follow.

    Thanks!
    Laura

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