The Crazy Simple Life

The adorable letter wall art in the above picture was made by my girlfriend and given to me as a baby shower gift.   What a thoughtful gift.  The fence and farm animals depict the nursery room theme. 

With my second baby on the way, I decided to recreate this art using a different nursery room theme (hope my girlfriend wasn’t planning on doing this as well). 

DIY Time: 1 hour

Materials:

Once you decide the general theme you want to create take some time to browse at the craft store.

• Letters - A large craft store will have many different letter size and font options.  You will find wood letters, plastic or cardboard. You can choose prepainted or unpainted letters. I chose unpainted cardboard letters because I liked their shape, size and weight and didn’t mind painting them.
  

• Decals - The craft store will also have many accessorizing decals to choose from; the majority I found were made out of wood.  I had plenty of theme choices:  flowers, butterflies, sports equipment, dinosaurs, farm animals, zoo animals and nautical themes just to name a few. There are both pre-painted and plain wood choices.
  

• Paper – Find the scrapbooking section; there will be bins and bins of square paper paper prints to choose from.
  

• Paint & Paint Brush –  Color and type is up to you!  I chose a white acrylic paint and a medium sized art paint brush.

• Glue or Tape – Glue or tape will both work to adhere paper to letters.  I like adhesive tape because it is extremely easy to use.  If you use glue, use a thicker glue like a glue stick so it won’t stain paper or create bumps. 
  

• Glue - Glue will also be needed to adhere decals to letters.  I used a hot glue gun but other glue would work as well (wood glue, craft glue, crazy glue).
  

• Scissors

• Pencil

DIY:

• Trace letters on paper to create a cut-out pattern.  Time Saving Tip: trace letters on paper before painting so you can cut out the paper pattern while paint is drying (I didn’t think of this until after I started painting).
  

• Paint letters.  Time Saving Tip: only paint where necessary (you do not need to paint where paper will cover letters or back of letters).
  

• Cut out paper pattern.  Make sure paper pattern fits letters prior to putting tape or glue on paper.

• Tape or glue paper pattern to letters.

• Glue decals to letters. Play around with how you want decals to be displayed on letters before gluing. 

Viola!  Instant DIY satisfaction.  This wall art has many creative possibilities.  You could spell and decorate words such as 'Family' for your living room wall.  You could spell out your child’s name or create a theme using a family members favorite sport team name or initials and glue sport theme decals to it.

This is a great DIY craft project for anyone...including kids, they love to participate!