Notes Frame

I took a break from making baby things today to make this nifty little gift for my Secret Pal:

I got the idea from Pinterest (surprise, surprise) and of course added my own little touches. The Pinterest Post I saw was from Paper Wings. But before I go into how I put this together, I must put up a picture of the quilt I just finished for Baby:

It's made of the same fabric as the crib sheets I made last weekend; I love that. There won't be a tutorial on the quilt, however, because I am NOT a quilter. I can make something simple like this, but quilting is not my cup of tea. It's too fussy for me. People never understand that, because I sew and alter wedding gowns and other formal wear, but that's just a different kind of fussy. I just can't don't want to deal with all the corners and exactness required in quilting.

But I digress...

The notes frame is totally a dollar store project. Yay! I got all of my supplies at my local Dollar Tree. (With the exception of the pens, which I had on hand, being a teacher and all. But you could get them there.)

All you need is:

A frame
Scrapbook paper
Ribbon
Pen
Sticky notes
(glue)

The first thing I did was take the store picture out of the frame and use it as a cutting guide for my pretty paper. I actually used decorative computer paper as my dollar store did not have scrapbook paper (and I didn't feel like making another stop) but it works.

I decided I wanted the polka dots at the top and bottom of the frame, so I cut one full-sized piece and a second piece that was slightly shorter, so I could layer them in the frame. If you just have regular scrapbook paper, you just need one piece the size of the frame opening.

I lined them up and slid them into the frame. You can see a line where they overlap, but that won't show when we're finished.

Next, I cut a length of ribbon about a foot long and glued it across the back, about an inch and a half from the top of the frame.

Then, I wrapped the ribbon around to the front, overlapped and glued the ends at the center of the frame, and cut off any excess.

I made a little bow to decorate by cutting a piece of ribbon maybe 8 inches long or so, looping the ends, and gluing it.

After that, I took another piece of ribbon roughly 8 inches long, and laid it underneath the loops...

...then tied it in a knot around the loops.

I arranged the tails to hang down, and glued the bow onto the frame, covering the place where the ribbon came together in the front.

I glued on the sticky note pad. I tried just peeling off the backing paper and sticking it to the frame, but I decided that wasn't strong enough.

Cute, right? But I decided I wanted to add a little ribbon to attach the pen. Goodness knows pens always have a way of getting up and walking off, so this is my attempt to solve that problem. Plus it looks nice as a gift, better than just putting a pen with it.

I cut a piece of ribbon a couple feet long and glued one end to the back of the frame.

Finally, I tied the other end around the pen with a little bow.

Ta-da! A cute little $5 gift. Write a little note to the recipient, and you are good to go!