Burlap Meaning of Name Sign

First off...if you are my sister, you can stop reading now! Warning Carol..gift spoiler alert.
I have been waiting and waiting to start my posting my Christmas craft ideas and I made a deal with myself that I would start posting Christmas after Halloween. I am in Canada so our Thanksgiving is done; so I can start Christmas earlier! But I could not wait to show you this idea! It is technically not Christmas but it is a Christmas gift I plan to give.

So as of Monday, November 1st it will be almost all Christmas on Full of Great Ideas! How exciting. I love Christmas!

Well on to my exciting Christmas gift for my nephews. 

We have all seen those great burlap pillow with the words or monogrammed initials on them and I have wondered how to make one. I have seen tutorials to print the design on paper, trace it onto the burlap and then paint the image on. There is one thing about me that is 100% true...I am not artistic. I can't draw anything! Just ask my kids.

So when I saw this absolutely amazing idea at Domestically Speaking showing you how to print on to burlap I was both shocked and amazed.  How has no one ever thought of this before! Maryann is a GENIUS!

I was so inspired that I had to immediately make her Laundry sign. After the amazing results I had with that sign,  I had a small piece of burlap leftover. You can't waste a perfectly good piece of burlap that has already been ironed (I hate ironing..just ask my husband) so I knew I could make something for my sister's house. She live in an old 1890ish farm home and burlap fits perfectly into her decor.

WARNING: I cannot guarantee this will not damage a printer. I have printed 5 different burlap pieces in the past day and have had no issues...but I can't guarantee it won't happen. P.S. don't tell my husband I did this..he will not be happy with me :) So now that I have put that out there, here we go.
Materials:
Burlap (ironed)
Freezer paper (not waxed paper!)
Frame
Foam board (optional)
Modgepodge or other way to adhere to frame (optional)

Method:
Iron the fabric until perfectly flat.  I used a spray bottle of water to get the fibers to stick down.
These instructions are to do it full sized (8 1/2 x 11) but did a smaller version (used a 5x7 frame) for the project I photographed.

Cut the freezer paper slightly larger than the size of the image I designed in a word processing program.

Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper on medium heat/dry setting onto the burlap (the shiny side will stick when heated).

Cut the burlap/freezer paper to 8 1/2 inches wide so it fits perfectly in your printer.
Do a test run, printing your image onto blank printer paper to ensure it is exactly what you want.
Load the burlap/paper into your printer making extra sure you put it in the correct way it will print.  Double check the image on the printer telling you what side of the paper is printed on. 

 Once printed, it will look like this.  Remove the freezer paper by peeling it off the back.

You can easily fray the ends to add some character by carefully pulling one row of thread out at a time. be careful not to remove too many rows or you will take part of the lettering off.

The frame I purchased was a deep side style frame that was cheap, inexpensive, frugally priced (however you look at it only cost me $2) at the Dollar Store.

I framed mine two different ways. For Nathan's I removed the glass, mat and replaced them with foam board cut to size.
I carefully ModgePodged the burlap onto the foam board. Don't use too much glue as it will come through the holes of the burlap. Once dry, if any of the letters are clear or dark enough, use a fine tip sharpie to fill in the gaps.

 

 I think I will keep my eyes open for a few John Deere tractor buttons or tacks to put on the four corners for decoration.

For Jordan's, I wrapped the burlap carefully around the backing of the frame. I left the glass on since I was not going to put any accents (I printed the tractor on).

Grand total for the project= $2 (I had burlap, modgepodge, foam board, and freezer paper on hand from previous projects)

There are so many possibilities with this method! I see my sister getting some custom pillows :)