Here's the how-to guide:
PHASE ONE:
I could have done a lot more shopping around for backs and letters, but I'm actually a very impatient and impulsive person when it comes to projects (even though it took me WEEKS to do) I wanted to have all my supplies all at once. I live in a wonderful community on the edge of nowhere-near-Phoenix, AZ. The closest crafty store to me was Wal-Mart. So I made due. I have since been to Michael's AND JoAnn's and I've seen other cute options for different letter shapes or lower profiled letters but I'm very pleased with what I have. The prices seemed comparable across all three stores for similar things.
PHASE 2:
I selected 6 different scrapbook papers that I wanted as backgrounds. I chose paper that I already had in my scrapbooking chaos - save for one I bought with my mom knowing I didn't like the furthest right paper in the picture. Emi's room has not been painted but we're thinking of going with Sherwin William's Verbena, so i selected papers with blues, purples, and pinks. These papers sat on the counter forever and only moved off the counter to Emi's room because we were having company come stay :D
I got re-motivated because were planning on painting Emi's room a few weeks ago. <we didn't>. I was getting my painting skills warmed up by painting the letters and the plaques with white acrylic paint. It took 3 good coats with 15-20 minutes drying time between each coat to get coverage I was happy with. I saved paint by not painting the whole plaque face since it was going to get covered by the paper anyway. Now, I should have sanded BEFORE I painted since the plaques had some rough edges, but I didn't. I did after and used sanding sponges from Lowes (which I made an after-dinner run just to get along with light bulbs for our living room). Still worked.
A few days later I figured I wanted the kitchen table cleared off so late at night before Joe got home I got my paper cutter out and my measuring tape and started to cut my shapes out. I cut them to 1/4" inch less on each edge (so minus 1/2" when I made the cuts). For the rectangular ones with the curved corners I used a small x-acto knife and free handed it. For the circles I found a bowl in our house that was PERFECT. The oval is the only one I had to really play with. I traced the full size and then tried my best to shrink it correctly as I cut. It took a few revisions for me to be happy with it (perfectionist problems).
I used glossy mod-podge to adhere the paper to the plaques. I've never used mod-podge before so I did the rectangle first and only had to replaced the paper once. I learned quickly that more was better and I used a piece of cardboard to smooth it out from the center and help it adhere with no bubbling. The thicker papers were easier than the thinner papers. Then I applied a nice coat on top of the whole thing and around the edges. I finished after Joe got home and went to bed because I didn't want to wait until morning.
PHASE 5:
The next day I was so excited I was almost done that I just kept going! I attached the letters first using wood glue. Then I *TRIED* to use it to attach the plaques to each other and it didn't work except between two of them (maybe it would have if I'd had clamps), but I'm impatient and impulsive so I did what I knew would work next. Off we went before bed-time to Michael's where I bought glue sticks for my glue gun. I know I have some glue sticks around here already but I couldn't find them and wanted to finish this project NOW! I very liberally applied glue between the plagues and held them tight until the glue was firm. Then on the backside I tried to fill in all the edges with more glue to give it extra strength. There's only one that I have to reinforce after Lincoln got ahold of it. He thought it was pretty and he wanted to touch it. No biggie.
I also used the glue gun to attach the ribbon to the back to hang it on her wall. It was 49 cent ribbon at Michael's and it's sparkly. We'll see how it hangs when I get it nailed up since the ribbon is stiff. It *may* get changed out for some satin ribbon that will hang on a nail a little better. I asked Joe if I should put some flowers on it and he vetoed that. He liked it simple.
So there you go. Emilyn's first wall decor for her some-day nursery. Now I just have to decide *which* wall to hang it on. Above her crib? Above her rocking chair? Changing table? Where would you put it? (see corresponding numbers).
Here's are the links to my inspirations:
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