DIY Family Name Picture Display

The family name.  A name holds a lot of significance.  A last name reminds us of where we come from, and the family history that has occurred to people holding our same last name.  It's a tie to the past, and symbol of the future as we look forward to passing on our family name to future generations.  A family name is special no matter how you came to it.  Your spouse and you can chose to go the traditional method and take your husbands last name, combine your two last names with a hyphen, take the wife's last name (which is what we did - a tad nontraditional but totally right for us), or even make a new last name by combining your two last names.

Proud of your family name?   There's a lot of ideas out there on how you can tie in your family's last name to your household, and make it creatively yours.  One such idea, displaying the family name through pictures is an easy way to put your mark on your home.  You can have it greeting guests at the entrance to your home, hanging proudly in the family room or in the kitchen as a reminder of the importance of family.  No matter where you hang it the purpose remains the same, to serve as a reminder that you are proud of where you come from and who you are as a family.

A friend's Family Name Picture Display

The Idea... is to compile pictures that represent the letters in your last name.  This could take a while to do since you typically try and find alphabet letters in everyday circumstances.  You can do this two ways, either snap them whenever you happen upon them or plan some time to really search them out.

If you decide to go with the first method it makes a great project to work on as a family on your vacations! The picture display once finished may hold even more meaning then as your family recalls where they found each letter.

If you chose method two and want to involve your family, it'd be easy to take a weekend and the kids would surely get a kick out of trying to find letters in everyday things.  

Either way it can make a great family activity.  But maybe you're just starting out with your spouse and you want to make it symbolize your new life together.  It also makes a GREAT personal decorative wedding gift.  If you'd like add the wedding date to the picture mat and symbolize the newlyweds (whether it's you or for others) joining together under the family name.  Could even add kids births too if you'd like, as additions to the family occur.    


Materials:
Frame
Picture Mat - with enough slots to spell name
Alphabet Letter Pictures - (4x6)

It's really that simple!  The time it takes you to complete the project will all depend on how you tackle obtaining the photos, but that's the fun part of the project so be creative.  This is a project that you can keep forever, and even pass on to your kids someday!

A family name holds a lot of meaning and what better way to display your name proudly for all it represents than through a Family Name Picture Display.