Finally, a craft project!

I know it's been forever since I've done an art project and blogged about it. Actually, I've done a few little things here and there around the house, especially with the holidays of the past few months, but without a camera I haven't been able to blog about them. Oh, and speaking of my camera (and how I'm able to blog with photos now), it was found last week as we were getting ready to go to the zoo as a family. Apparently the camera somehow got into the stroller and put into the closet back in November.

Anyways, back to the project for today.

I stumbled upon this craft challenge while scanning Facebook and knew I had a super cute idea for a super simple project. Yes, I had to say super two times. For this challenge, all items must be purchased from a dollar store and completed in less than 30 minutes.

Here's a photo of my supplies.


Any size frame and foam board

That's all. Well, except for a computer, printer, tape, and scissors. I also added some wrapping paper to the project that I had left over, which was purchased at the dollar store a while ago.

First thing you need to do is open up your word processing program on your computer. Then open "Page Settings" and adjust your page size to match the size frame you purchased (8x10, 5x7, 4x6, etc.). I would suggest selecting the "borderless" option for the size you choose. Then type what letter you want your monogram to be, adjust the font and size (mine was 700pt) and try to get a good fit on your page. Since your page will be the same size as your frame, you'll have a good idea of how it will fit once printed.

This next step is optional, but, I like to open the font settings tab and select "outline" which will turn your letter white with just a thin line around it. This saves a ton of ink, and since you will only use the letter you print to trace, I'd hate to waste so much ink. Now print.

Once printed, I like to trace around the outline with a marker so it's easier to see. This, too, is optional, but again something I prefer to do. Once traced, cut it out and lay it face down onto the foam board and trace around it. With an Exacto knife (or scissors) cut out your traced letter. Set it aside.

Now, take your frame and remove the back. Lay the back piece down onto the wrapping paper (hanging side up) and cut around it leaving about 1/4". Use some tape to "wrap" the paper around the back piece. 

Now, lay the frame facing up and attach (with tape) the cut out letter onto the glass, making sure it's centered.

Now, you're done. Hang it and admire your work.

 

Total cost for project: $3.00 ($1.00 frame, $1.00 foam board, $1.00 wrapping paper)

Advent Calendar: Day 1

Tonight, A and I (J isn't here) made a handprint wreath. I decided to do this on a night J wasn't here because we already have one that he made back in 2010 that we hang every year. I thought it would be nice for A to make one that matches his.

Ho Ho Ho how-to

Don't you just love how a day turns into almost a week. Sorry about that, it just got really busy around here.

So here is the how-to.

Items needed: computer/printer with a Word program, foam board, paint, glue, glitter, and ribbon.

First thing you need to do is to find a font you like in Word (or whichever program you choose to use) and print out the word HO. I used the font "Harrington" for this project. Next I cut out the letters so I could trace  them onto my poster board. Here they are after cutting them out.

This is the type of board I used. It's 3/16" foam board. I've used thicker for other projects and it works just fine (actually, they look even more like the real wood letters the thicker your board is).

Then just trace the letters on however you choose. Make sure you trace 3 H's and 3 O's! I like to squeeze them on there so I have a good amount of scraps left, you never know what you can use it for.

Here are my letters all cut out and ready to be painted. I used an exacto knife to get a nice clean edge.

I chose to do a trick I learned from Pinterest (originally from this blog). Basically, you just insert tacks to the back of your project so when you paint the front it's raised off of the table, resulting in no sticking. I would say it worked just about as good as I thought it would. Although it's not a necessary step.

Sorry I don't have any pictures from the painting/ gluing stages. All I did was paint the edges red and I used my homemade "mod podge" (from this blog) to apply the glitter. The glitter did need two coats so I made sure the first was dry before I applied the second. The end result is nice and thick. Once they were completely dry I decided I wanted to attach each H to an O. To do this I just used a hot glue gun. At the same time I used the hot glue to add my ribbon to the bottom of each letter. I used red and white, alternating  for each letter. Therefore, each H had a red ribbon attached and each O had a white one. I also just guessed the length of each ribbon (although now I wish I had made them longer). After all of that, it was time to hang them. I just used a small nail and drove it though the center of the H, near where I had glued the two letters together.

Here they are all hung up on the wall. Cute, huh? There's just one problem. Can you see it? It's not too noticeable from this angle so lets get a closer look.

Ah, there it is. Since I nailed them in the center they were bowing out on the sides. So what did I use to fix this..? Just some scotch tape attached to each letter where it was coming off of the wall. Did it work? Yep, it sure did. I've used scotch tape on my walls a few times (most recently for A's photo timeline for her party). I'm not exactly sure why it holds so well (I had to pry A's pictures off when it was time to take them down) but I'm not complaining. Nothing could be easier than using scotch tape.

Here they are in all of their glory. Displaying all of my past/ current Christmas cards. I think it looks really cute and fits into my space quite nice.

**I've linked this post to these blogs. Come take a look and join in if you want!!