Create a personalized DIY gift with this step by step tutorial for making a DIy Personalized Name Sign.
We've all seen those great pictures with people's last names spelled out in assorted photograph letters-they sell for upwards of $50-100. But did you know you can easily make your own for only the price of printing?
Step 1: Visit this Flickr gallery and browse the gallery of letters, saving your favorites. (Please note-this gallery is very generously provided for PERSONAL use, please read the copyright carefully-you may not sell these images or use for commercial purposes.)
I was creating my last name-Riker-so my first stop was the Rs. There are pages and pages to choose from. I plan on making my art black and white so I didn't pay attention to the colors of the letters.
Once you have all of your letter photos saved open up PicMonkey and click the "Create a Collage" button.
2018 update: This blog post tutorial is 6 years old and PicMonkey is no longer free to use. You can create this with a free trial there or use Canva.com or other photo editing software of your choice.
Upload your letter photos to Picmonkey.
Click on the Layout button (middle one) and choose "Ducks in a Row." I chose the option with five in a row, if you have a longer last name go ahead and chose this for now.
Drag and drop your photos into the frames. If you need extra frames drag your photos to the space between the squares to create new spaces.
Click on the Palette Icon to adjust the border options. I reduced the spacing and opted for a black border.
Now save your picture and "X" out the collage window.
Now load the picture you just saved into the main PicMonkey area. Click on the Effects icon (beaker, second from top) and scroll down to Black and White. Hit Apply and you're finished! Save your picture and you're ready to print at your favorite site!
Do you think you'll make any of these for holiday gifts this year?
Courtenay says
Smart! Are you going to print it out and show us what you do with it too? Pretty please? 🙂
Donna Woods says
ank you for sharing!
Inspire Me Heather says
Ooo, I love that! Thanks Melissa, I might just have to play around with that this weekend!!
Melissa says
Thanks Heather! Let me know if you make one, I'd love to see how it turns out!
Donna Woods says
ank you - LOVE your ideas.
Melissa says
Thanks Donna! Let me know if you make one, I'd love to see how it turns out!
Jennifer says
Love this! Found you at the {what's shakin' link party}... following!
¤´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·`¤... Jennifer
https://jennsrandomscraps.blogspot.ca
https://pinterest.com/jennp6/
Melissa says
Thanks Jennifer! off to check out your site!
Therese Given says
What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial. Kids home sick today so I'm definitely going to play around with this!
Therese Given says
Okay, collage made- now quick question...what size would you print this?
Melissa says
Therese, I would base it off what frame you might want to put it in. The ones I've seen are maybe like 8' high by however long to have the name spelled out. I haven't printed mine yet (trying to get my Xmas cards finished for the same order!) Do you already have a frame in mind to use? Here is a site with standard measurements: https://www.framedestination.com/picture_frame_sizes.html
Terri J says
Thank you so much for sharing this information w/ us Melissa! I already have a dozen things floating around in my head that I would like to try!!! Of course, some of that will depend on what frames I can come up with at the Dollar Store, Goodwill, other thrift stores and what I already own!!!
Melissa says
I think its a great idea to create something with a frame already in mind-printing/framing is really the only cost so if you found a cool thrifted frame or a good deal on one this could be such a frugal gift!
Bobi Jensen says
I love this!
I have a weekend party I'd love for you to share this on:
https://westernwarmth.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Bobi
Tausha says
I love this! i have seen this idea, but never using picmonkey. You are a genius!!! You made this project totally do-able now. I am thinking that my 12 yr. olds friends will love these as gifts!
Thanks so much for sharing! Totally pinning!
Happy Weekend my new friend!
Tausha
sassystyleredesign.com
Megan says
love this idea! I see these everywhere and it's so fun to know how to make it myself! I would be honored if you shared this at my Ginger Jamboree Link Party!
Kelly Meyers says
Thank you! I am working on making a few for Christmas gifts! PicMonkey is awesome!
Kelly Meyers says
I uploaded my Saved Collage to Walgreens and it has very poor resolution. When you saved your letters from the Flickr site, what size image did you save? I saved as a Medium [x640] maybe I should have gone smaller? Thoughts and suggestions please!
Melissa says
I saved mine as medium too but you could try doing a larger file and make sure you are saving at max resolution in picmonkey. I haven't printed mine yet (still trying to nail down my Xmas cards and order it all in one shot) I can look into it more this evening after my kids are in bed if you'd like Kelly.
[email protected] says
This is so cute! I love it. I'm tempted to do it with our house number to hang on our front door!
Melissa says
That would be a cool idea Tracie! If you do it please share it with me!
Tina says
Melissa, I am not very good with computers but would like to do this for Christmas gifts...Questions????
1. Where do you save this at?
2. What is Pic Monkey and where do I find it at?
3. Can you print it from home?
4. Does it come out as one piece or are the letters separate?
5. Can you pick the size you would like to have?
I know this is asking a lot but if you can take the extra time I would be very great full for the help.
Thank You
Tina
Melissa says
Hi Tina, You can find PicMonkey at http://www.picmonkey.com First you need to save your letter images from Flickr as jpg files on your computer. Then you can follow the tutorial to create your art collage. Depending the length of the word you create the size would vary, I recommend having it printed off as a large print or poster and then trimming it if necessary.
Katier. says
PicMonkey is awesome, but I cannot figure out how to make it the size I want (it shows % and px, but not inches). Which makes it hard to order it in a common size through my print fullfillment center. Is there another program out there that allows you to do that?
Melissa says
Katie did you try the crop tool? I'm not on my big computer right now so I can't look but I believe the crop tool allows you adjust in inches.
The Mom says
I love this idea; however, I cannot find a way to save it to my computer where it will upload to Walgreens & show a decent picture to print. It keeps saying it isn't correct size for what I'm picking! Did you ever figure out how to print yours? The whole pixel thing isn't working & I've tried getting on PicMonkey & using what it says for 8x10 or 10x14 & it won't work, frustrated & confused! Great idea, but of no use if you can't print...
Melissa Riker says
Sorry for the delay in answering...I printed mine with Shutterfly and didn't have any problem. Are you saving at a large size and cropping to the print size you want in picmonkey before submitting it?