Wooden Heart Guest Book

My daughters wedding was in April. She wanted the "Wooden Heart Guest Book"

These frames are really cute and a great alternative to a regular guest book. You cut a hole into the top of the frame. As the guest arrive they sign the wood heart with a sharpie with their well wishes. This is to replace the standard "guest book".

On etsy it was priced at $140 https://www.etsy.com/listing/200627529/wooden-hear...

which was way more than I wanted to pay. So I figured I could do it for less and started to research it online. I did find one but it was still too complicated for me.

http://www.finecraftguild.com/diy-wedding-guest-bo...

I wanted cheap and easy. So I made some choices and came up with this one.

Step 1: Supplies

I went to Hobby Lobby got the 12x16 black shadows box with burlap

http://www.hobbylobby.com/Home-Decor-%26-Frames/Fr...

it is listed for $30 but you can use the 40% coupon

I got the small hearts (1/5") from amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Hearts-Natural-Unfinish...

and the large 3" wood heart from hobby lobby

http://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-%26-Hobbies/Wood-...

I got the wood plaque from hobby lobby also.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-%26-Hobbies/Wood-...

I also used a hot glue gun, a hand held circular saw, and a wood burner, a wood plaque painted with black craft paint, white paint pen I got a walmart. and a small wooden table to put the frame on and hold the hearts.

Step 2: Doing It

So I used a hand held circular saw and cut a small slit into the top of the shadow box. I made sure that he small hearts would be able to fit into the slot. I am sure you could use a knife or hand held small saw to accomplish the same thing, just cut a slit into the top however you can.

I used a wood burning tool to burn the initials into the large 3" heart. I hot glued the wood heart onto the middle burlap of the shadow box.

The original diy wooden heart frame guest book hyperlinked in the first step used two different frames so that the hearts would drop into the frame and set around the larger heart like plinko game. I didn't really care about them setting in there just right as they were dropped in, I was fine with them dropping into the frame and setting on the bottom until I came back and fixed them permanently around the large heart after the wedding.

Step 3: Diplay

This guest book frame is all about the display.

I made a small plaque with a cute saying about the frame. I painted a wooden plaque black. I used MS Word and typed the saying in the font I wanted and printed it out on a page that fit the plaque. I used chalk to cover the back of the paper. I then placed the paper over the black painted plaque and traced over the letters. Once I lifted up the paper the outline of the words were there. I used white craft paint pen and filled in the letters.

The wedding was an outdoor event at my home. We attached the frame to a tree at about head high, we then put a small wooden bedside table under the frame with the plaque. The drawer was left open with the small hearts for people to write their message on. I left two fine tip black sharpies for the guest to write with.

After the wedding was over I was able to take my time and I hot glued the small hearts around the larger heart and then gave the frame to my daughter. She loves this frame and it is an awesome display in her new home.

If you have more guest than we did , you can get a bigger frame, or smaller hearts to fit into your frame.