My brother and sister in law are going to have their first baby. A little boy will join our family this summer. I wanted to make something personal and since they are giving him an unusual name, hand making a gift was the best way to go.
I made this letter to hang on his nursery wall.
Materials
Wooden letter
Scrapbook paper
craft paint
mod podge
letter stickers
I bought the letter at Michaels, they have many different styles and sizes so you can do just the baby’s first initial or the whole name, whatever you decide.
First I painted the edges of the letter with a light brown craft paint. While that was drying I tore scrapbook paper, in the colors I wanted, into different sized scraps, leaving the edges raw and frayed.
When the paint was dry I started using Mod Podge to glue the scrapbook paper down. Paint the front of the letter and randomly stick scrapbook paper on it, pressing and smoothing. Don’t worry about covering all the area or aligning the edges. You will add more layers and trim the edges later.
Let dry a bit then cover that first layer with Mod Podge and add more paper. Overlap the paper underneath and start to fill in some of the bare areas, again don’t worry about covering it all, you’ll add more.
Let dry then paint with another layer of Mod Podge and do your final layer of scrapbook paper. At this point if some of the paper has little emblems or animals, add them. I was going to add the zebras and giraffes and elephants from one of the papers I used but decided to use stickers instead.
When you have the letter covered the way you want it, let it dry. When it is good and dry take a small pair of scissors and go around the letter trimming away any paper that hangs over the edge. When that is done add another layer of paint to the edges.
When the paint is dry apply Mod Podge over it, two layers, allowing it to fully dry between layers. Once the edges are done apply three coats of Mod Podge to the top, letting dry between each layer.
When the Mod Podge was dry I used stickers to spell out the rest of his name on the D, using a little Mod Podge to give them extra sticking power.
That’s it. Now Declan has something with his name on it.