10th Anniversary Gift DIY Farmhouse Sign

Sometimes a lightbulb just goes off and you instantly know nothing will top that idea. For me, it was the day I came up with the idea to make Bo this farmhouse style sign for above our bed for our 10th Anniversary Gift. And when did I come up with this awesome idea? Oh, about two years into our marriage. Yeah, when I commit, I COMMIT.

I was walking through a Hallmark store and found an anniversary card that had a wooden front on it. It was SO pretty, stained a nice dark brown, engraved with a sweet saying. My first thought was “Oh, he’s never going to top this card”. My second thought was that these cards were so cool and unique, they really shouldn’t live in a cupboard collecting dust after they’re read.

Did you pick up on that? Yeah, I’m a bit of a hoarder with certain things, like cards. Cards are important to me, and I never throw them away. I’m going to need a storage locker to hold them all soon, but damn it, MEMORIES. In that moment the lightbulb went off. If I could find enough different, cool, wooden cards over the next 8 years, I could turn those covers into one hell of a sign for our room as a 10th Anniversary Gift.

A 10th Anniversary Gift –
8 Years In The Making

So, I bought wooden cards when ever I could find them. For Bo’s birthday, our Anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, whatever. When I saw one, I bought it. Even if Bo’s Birthday was four months away, I bought it and hid it to give to him later. Once they were opened, and Bo had put them down somewhere, I scooped them up and hid them away in a cupboard again.

Yes, patience was key here with this, but the pay off will NEVER be topped. I tell Bo all the time, this is the kind of thoughtful gift that comes along once in a lifetime. I do this so he doesn’t get his hopes up for something else one day, while also letting him know he will never top it. Who’s competitive? Me? Never.

The best part? Actually pulling it all together was SO easy. First, I needed a frame. I love rustic, aged wood, but not the price tag that typically comes with it. I scored a frame for next to nothing from Michaels, but it’s almost exactly the same as this one from Amazon. Now, traditionally your 10th Anniversary Gift is tin, so yeah, CHECK. I ran to Home Depot and picked up a piece of galvanized steel, just like this. Make sure your tin sheet is the same size as the frame so they fit together perfectly. Also, make sure you don’t buy aluminum, because it isn’t magnetic.

I grabbed a few little extra things here and there to add to the board. Like the B and K I stained, the “laugh”, “home”, and “love” wooden words, and a white metal “family” sign. For the letters, I used a wax stain I already had lying around the house from another project. The only other thing to pick up were magnets.

10th Anniversary Gift
DIY Farmhouse Style Sign

Now it was time to pull all the pieces of the 10th Anniversary Gift together.

Pull everything out, and carefully take the front off of all of your cards. If you didn’t have wooden cards, you could mount plain paper cards to thin pieces of wood too using some Mod Podge!

Take the back off of your frame, and the glass out, and replace it with the metal sheet.

Use a hot glue gun to glue a couple of magnets to the back of all your pieces.

Because I’m a planner, I taped out the size of the inside of the frame on our kitchen table with some painters tape, then decided where I wanted everything to go. I whoopsie’d a couple of times and doubled up on a few cards, which I found hilarious and had to make a point to include. What can I say, I know what I like.

Then I used painters tape to make a little bit of a boarder around the edge of the tin, just to help me eyeball everything nice and square. I didn’t want the cards to be right up against the edge.

All that was left to do was put all the pieces in place, and hang it on the wall. Not gonna lie, I waited until after I gave it to Bo to hang it, so he could help me.

Alice approved.

A Close Up Of Some Of The Cards

See, there was no way a card as pretty as this could sit in a drawer or a cupboard for the next 30 years.

I hope you guys loved this sign as much as we do. Every time I walk into our bedroom at the end of a day and see it hanging there, I can’t help but smile, and I hope Bo does too!

Let me know in the comments what kinds of unique Anniversary Gifts you’ve given or received over the years!

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