.Textured Letters.

After teasing you with this, I feel awful for waiting an entire month to show the final result. I hope you do not mind too much :)

I did a craft involving letters again..please forgive..they are just fun, what can I say! I have had some ideas for a while and decided it was time to let my creative juices free to do a craft for my little home. There is no tutorial to follow along with because let's face it--I did not know what my final product would be. I was simply feeling crafty and found myself roaming the aisles of Michaels, imagine that! I knew I wanted to incorporate a "K" and an "A" to place on my walls in a spot I stare at everyday..a very bare, BIG, spot..did you find it in this post? Okay, I'll give you a minute to look.

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Did ya find it? Well here it is:

See friends, it even calls out to me everyday.. everyday I stare at it's emptiness.

I started this whole process by purchasing two wooden letters, a "K" and an "A", with beveled edges from Michaels. I brought my letters home and began my experimenting. Textures have always fascinated me and I love incorporating them into the projects I do. My first thought was to cover my wooden letters in glue and cover them in a light colored sand. FAIL. The color sand did not cover the shade of the wood and the wood grain. I quickly gave my letter a bath and let dry while I pondered. Good news at this point..I was not feeling defeated, just challenged :) When my letter was dry, I used white acrylic paint I had in my craft corner and painted both letters white. Paint covered perfectly! When I was pleased with the letters, I did one last coat of white paint and before the paint was dry, I sprinkled my light colored sand onto the letters. SUCCESS. The letters appeared just as they did in my head. I was thrilled.

Once the letters were nice and dry, I pulled out my hot glue gun and began outlining the beveled edges. When I had a straight line of hot glue drawn, I took some twine I had in the house and placed it on the glue. My intension was to outline the letters using the beveled edges they provided me with..FAIL. The hot glue did not want to stick to the sand.. Good news again, the glue and twine pulled off the letter like a Twizzlers Pull N' Peel! No damage done. I was persistent and found a way to have the glue stick. I used my fingernails, yes I know, and scraped off the sand and some of the paint that was on the beveled edges. When there was a little bit of wood showing, SUCCESS, the hot glue stuck perfectly followed by the twine. Phew. Again, my letters looked the way I pictured it..just took a few more steps than anticipated ;)

Here they are:

Now that my letters were made and I was one happy crafter, I knew I was not finished. I needed to place my letters on something to make them pop and pop on my wall. Hm. I like nature and rustic items and my favorite color is green..what is something that has both..MOSS! Perfect. I found two lids from old shoeboxes I had in my closet that were the right size..no pun intended ;) 

I got in my car and headed back to Michaels to pick up some moss. When I came home I had my work station already set up--hot glue gun CHECK, hot glue sticks CHECK, two shoebox lids CHECK, clean table CHECK, and I added bags of moss! Friends, I will not lie to you..working with the moss kinda grossed me out. The smell and all the little things I found within the moss got my mind wandering and I did not like the direction my thoughts were traveling. I got over it..kinda..and finished hot gluing until the lids (top and sides) were completely covered with moss.

They looked like this:

Now the moss and letters were ready to meet. How did I attach them?--HOT GLUE! I am amazed at the strength of the moss and hot glue..so far so good, it all seems to be stuck rather well..keep those fingers crossed!

Take a look:

Does it look finished?--well, maybe, but I was not done! I bought two wooden frames 3 years ago at a garage sale for 25 cents. They were used in my first college townhouse and have been sitting in a closet since being married. I decided to bust them out, give them a fresh coat of brown spray paint, and hang them on my wall! The sizing again is spot on!


Enjoy the final result! I am not certain how "final" this set up is over our television, but for now, it fills the space and that was the only goal!! :) 

Thanks for reading about my unexpected "adventures" in creating my Textured Letters. I hope you like them and are inspired to make something lovely for your home! Have a wonderful day :)

Happy Living--Happy Crafting

and remember 

--Little Things Bring Smiles--