DIY: Mod Podge and Wooden Letters~

Remember way back when I showed you the inspiration board I had created for my boys' room?

Yeah, well, the room has gone in a TOTALLY different direction.  Enter Boy 1, my 11-year-old, who said it was all great until we actually started shopping.  Then the white beds became espresso brown, and the blue and white bedding became a linen-y tan color.  I tell ya.  But it's all good... I just went in a different direction using this photo as my inspiration. (and thankfully, he loves it.)




via Houzz.com



I bet you can tell where the color inspiration came from for the wall I posted yesterday, huh?



My boys' newly striped wall

 Anyhoo, the one aspect of my first inspiration board which I did keep in the current design is the letter wall.  Only I'm doing a different take on it.  Unfortunately, you'll have to wait to see what I do, but today I wanted to share with you an inexpensive way to create a "custom" wooden letter.

How to Mod Podge a Wooden Letter...

What you'll need:

1. A wooden letter (well, that's a  no brainer, huh?)  They are readily available at most craft/hobby stores.  I purchased mine at Robert's.

2. Mod Podge  - I use the matte finish.

3. A craft brush to spread the Mod Podge.

4. A craft knife.

5. Scrapbook paper of your choice.

6. A sanding block, or fine grit sandpaper.

• Start by tracing the letter you are going to use onto your scrapbook paper.  I like to trace mine onto the back of the paper (just make sure to reverse the letter.)

• Cut out the letter with your craft knife.

• Now spread a layer of mod podge onto your wooden letter, making sure to cover the entire letter.

• Place the scrapbook paper letter on top of your wooden letter...line up carefully and press down firmly.  Smooth gently with  your hand.  Because of the weight of the scrapbook paper, I find that it is not really necessary to smooth out bubbles, but if you should notice any, you can smooth them out using the side of a credit card (or something like that.)

• Now turn the letter over...you will notice that there is a bit of paper that is probably spilling over the edges.  Just use your craft knife to carefully cut away any of the excess paper.

• Turn the letter back over and use your sanding block (or sandpaper) to gently sand the edges of the paper.  This gives the letter a nice finished appearance.

• If you wish, you can now give your letter another coat of Mod Podge to seal it.  This is not necessary, but does give it a bit of extra protection.

VOILA!  You've got a custom wooden letter.  Hopefully, my letter wall will be ready to reveal next week...hopefully....

Until then, happy crafting!