I have actually done a few mod podge letter projects, but this is the first one I bothered to take pictures for. Usually I just get to into what I am doing and completely forget, but I made a note to make sure I took step-by-step pictures this time. Yay me!
I made these for my nieces. In the interest of easy shipping, I didn't do their whole names, but instead stuck with doing the first letter of each of their names. I had a lot of fun decorating them, and hope that I'll be home to see them hung in their rooms very soon. (I miss you Sophia, Shelly, & Tessa!)
Doing letters for your child's room is actually very simple. In can be a more in depth project, if that is what you want, but it can also be something that takes very little time for a very cute result. (At least, I think they are cute.)
Needless to say, you start out with your wooden letters. You also need some Mod Podge, paint, brushes, either craft paper or cloth, and whatever you want to decorate your letters with in addition to the paper. (If you want anything at all. Like I said, this is a project that can be as simple or complex as you want.)
The first thing I did was to pain the sides and back of the letters. You can also paint the front of the letters if you want, but I didn't since I planned to cover them completely with scrapbooking paper. I chose this pretty purple to go along with the paper choices I had made.
After letting the paint dry, I placed the letters, back side up, on the back part of the paper I had chosen and then traces the letters with my Sharpie. (I love my Sharpies.)
I then flipped the letters over and made sure the paper fit. (I used my Exacto knife to cut off any extra.) I then decided how I wanted to decorate each letter, using different kinds of paper and what not and moving it around as much as I wanted until I was happy with it. This is important, because if you just start gluing right away, you're not going to be able to change it later.
Of course, if you don't want the extra decoration and just want whatever paper you chose (which is what I did for Sebastian's letters), you can skip this whole decoration part and go down to where I affixed the first layer onto the letters. :0)
Once I was happy with how everything looked, I removed it all and then liberally coated the front side of the letter with Mod Podge. (I <3 Mod Podge!) Then I carefully placed the first layer of scrapbooking paper on my letters. If I noticed air bubbles, I used this time to iron them out, because I certainly didn't want them drying that way.
After giving that time to dry, I then painted over top of the paper with a liberal amount of Mod Podge. I would do this even if I wasn't going to add anything else to the letter, just to seal it. Don't worry, the Mod Podge will dry clear, and you can get it in almost any kind of finish you would want. Matte, glossy, pearl, even with glitter if you want to add a bit of bling to your letters. :0)
Once I let that dry, I then coated it again with Mod Podge and started decorating with the bits I had set out earlier. For these letters I made for our amazing nieces, I made them all different but coordinating. That way they could be hung as stand alone pieces in their own rooms, or all on once place together and still compliment one another well.
I then coated it all one more time with a layer of Mod Podge after decorating it. As you can see in the picture below, I then had some more air bubbles which I carefully worked out with my fingers. (Be very careful doing this, as you don't want to rip the paper, which will be wet with glue.)
When everything dried, I took my Exacto knife and trimmed off any extra paper I had overlapping the sides. Then, TA-DA, I was done. I am very happy with the results, and wish I could give them to the girls in person. Instead, they are all safely packed away in a box waiting to be shipped with some clothes that I found and couldn't help buying for them! (I take every opportunity I can get to shop for little girls.) I hope they like them. I certainly had fun making them.
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