Custom Letters

I am so excited you're here! If you have become as obsessed with Pinterest as I have, then you will love this project. I keep seeing all sorts of really cool decorated letters for your home. Here's an example of some awesome scrapbook paper covered letters I found. 

I LOVE these letters, but I have a slight problem. I'm cheap. And wood, well, it's expensive. So, I have come up with a solution! It's cheap, it's simple and here are the supplies you'll need:

• Some old cardboard box (this one is so old, I've used it a time or two to spray paint stuff on).
• Pretty scrapbook paper (I found mine in the clearance section at Craft Warehouse).
• Mod Podge (Or any type of spray adhesive, even Elmers would probably work).
• Scissors
• Sharpie
• Paint brush (for the glue)
• Self healing cutting board or something you feel comfortable cutting on.
• Exacto knife
• Scraps of ribbon

So first things first... You can use a stencil, or you can use your imagination. For whatever word you want to have hanging on your wall (I wanted to use the word welcome) draw out individual letters with your sharpie. As you can see with my "e" it wasn't perfect. It doesn't have to be. In fact, the less unified, I think the greater the outcome.

 You can use your scissors or an Exacto knife on your self healing board to cut the letters out.

 If you use the Exacto knife, like I did, it's easiest to cut out one side, flip it over and score the backside as well, then it pops out really easy.

 The next step is picking paper for each letter. Pretty simple.

 Paint on your mod podge, elmers, or use spray adhesive. If you choose spray adhesive, make sure you go outside where it's well ventilated and follow the instructions on the can. I chose mod podge.

 Simply paint the FRONT side of your letter. Make sure you cover it completely.

 Flip that sucker over and adhere it to your scrap paper. Make sure to cut a small piece of ribbon to fit in between the paper and the cardboard before it starts to dry so you'll have something to hang it up with.

 Here's my lovely W drying. I also put a heavy book on top of my letters as they dried because the cardboard has the tendency to want to pull away from the paper as it dries. After it's dried, probably 10-15 minutes later, you can go back with your Exacto knife and self healing board and cut out your letters. The beauty about this part is that if your cardboard cutouts aren't exactly perfect, you can adjust accordingly as you cut them out. I know I didn't exactly love the shape of some of my letters so I just cut them a little bigger than the cardboard.

 Voila.

 As you can see, my "w" isn't the same color as what I cut out. I got it on the wall and realized the paper I picked was far too close to the same color as my wall. Easy fix though! I just went back and glued another piece of scrap paper over the first one.

And there you have it, a personalized, super easy and cheap sign. You can make your kids' names for their rooms, a welcome sign, the alphabet, the possibilities are endless. Now go. Create.