Crafty Wednesday - KAHLEN

I've been wanting to put something up in the kids' room since we moved in three years ago, and just haven't really gotten to it. Now I'm one step closer :) It still isn't hanging up, but at least it's done.

Here's the finished product:

It's just sitting on that piece of wood so it's not on the floor where little feet might trample it. I'll be hanging it all up hopefully in the next few days (need to get the right kind of adhesive first).

How did I do it? Read on!

First, you'll need:

• Wooden letters. Got mine at JoAnn's during the coupon commotion sale a few weeks ago.
• Scrapbook papers you like. I decided to coordinate mine instead of matching them, but that's entirely up to you.
• Mod Podge. What else?
• 1" Sponge brush. 
• Ink pad for distressing
• Sand paper
• Embellishments (not pictured)

{Step #1}
Trace the letters upside down on the BACK of your scrapbooking papers

{Step #2}
Cut out the letters as close to the lines as you can.

{Step #3}
Apply a coat of mod podge to each wooden letter, place the paper letter on, and smooth out. Because my letters are pretty small, I just used my finger, but you could also use a ruler or something else if you're worried about bubbles. I didn't have trouble with most of my papers; the textured cardstock gave me a little trouble, but you can't really tell in the finished product.

{Step #4}
You could stop at this point, but that's not as cute! Next, sand the edges a little bit to make the paper lay flat around the outside. I didn't cut my papers as precisely as I could have, so they were hanging off the edges a bit.

  After sanding, it looked much better.












{Step #5}
Distress the edges with the ink pad. I chose green because that's one of the theme colors for their room and it generally matched with the papers I chose. I couldn't get into all the crevices with the ink pad. I pondered it for awhile, then thought I'd try another 1" sponge brush. Worked like a charm! I dipped the very end in the ink pad, then just distressed like I normally would.

{Step #6}
Embellish! I was in my craft room while working on the project, so I just pulled whatever I had on hand. I'd seen these cute paper flowers everywhere in blogland recently and was just waiting for a project to use them on. Cut out three circles on coordinating paper in incremental sizes. Crumple up to get nice texture, then flatten out. Distress the edges with the same color as you did the letters. Hot glue all the middles together and add a coordinating button. Mod podge to the best of your ability. Hot glue to letters.
I also used ribbon, self-adhesive jewels and buttons from Oriental Trading Company, and raffia.

And there you have it!

Now I just need to do the little man's too, need to get some more coupons or a screaming sale at JoAnns on the letters though, Nathanael is a long name ;)

~S

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