Today, I had a day off of work, so I decided to be productive and make something for my apartment at school. I am excited to move in and decorate. Leaving my family to go off to school is always hard, so a home-away-from-home is essential. I need a space to
unwind. A space that makes me feel comfortable instead of somewhere that I cannot wait to leave.
I was at the craft store Jo-Ann’s with my mom yesterday, when I spotted these paper mache like letters. I was instantly inspired and had different ideas about what I could make. Lucky for me, they were on sale! Double lucky fact is that my roommate’s name also begins with “A”, so it is perfect for our room.
I picked out a pretty fabric and got to work. If you want to make one too…keep reading!
Here’s what you need
Opps! I forgot to include hot glue and cardboard…so grab those too! The fluffy white stuff is batting.
Directions
*Disclaimer: This is the way I chose to do it. I’m sure there are much easier ways considering this whole project took me about 2 1/2 hours….yep, not kidding. So, if you have a better idea…please ditch my instructions :)
1. Ok. Take your paper mache (or whatever the
heck it is!) letter and trace the shape onto cardboard. You will want to do this twice so that you end up with 2 cardboard “A’s” or whatever other letter you use.
2. I decided to glue batting to one of my cardboard A’s so that the front of my letter would be padded once it had fabric over it.
3. Now, take your fabric and trace the shape of your letter onto the opposite side of your pattern. Make the tracing bigger than your actual letter to leave a little fabric to glue over onto the back of the letter.
4. Ok. Now at this point I want you to take a few calming breaths because this is the stressful part. It is time for you to wrap your fabric around the letter…and glue the fabric to the back-side. This part is stressful because you have to pull the fabric and glue the fabric down in such a way that you do not get wrinkles on the front of your letter. You may have to use hot glue in some pesky areas that will not stick.
Once you have done that, you will get something that looks like this.
Do the same thing to the other cardboard letter.
5. Now, it is time to prep the actual paper mache letter. You will want to glue fabric down the sides and inside edges of the letter in order to get a uniform look once you place your cardboard pieces on top.
6. Now the hard part is over! Woohoo!!!! Take your fabric-covered cardboard and glue the pieces onto the paper mache letter. Place some weighted books on top to get a nice seal as it dries.
Place it on a nice shelf and you have a cute new item to add a little color to a room :)
Quote of the Day
5 comments:
so cute... just stop it.
I love decorating letters :D That quote is seriously one of my favourites!! :D
Amy: Yeah...now I'm kinda wishing that I had chosen a different fabric! But, oh well :)
Lisa: Well you need to teach me your ways because honestly this one was a pain! But, I am happy with the way it turned out :) Isn't that quote great? The General Authorities as sooo wise!
Ashley one day you are seriously gonna have the cutest home!! And in the meantime you'll have the cutest apartment!
Aw thanks Holly! You better come visit my cute home :) I can just see us now....sipping lemonade while our little monsters run around the house screaming and playing :)
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