My Scrabble Board Project

Words with Friends is going crazy and there's a sudden popularity with using scrabble letters as art so I thought I'd make an art piece that works for us in the house.

Here are my materials:
Scrabble game; old Dictionary ($1.00 at Goodwill!), magnets,
24"x24" sheet metal, frame

I glued the magnets to the back of each scrabble letter

I used some Mod Podge to glue some dictionary
pages to the sheet metal

One layer of pages done. I added a 2nd layer to make sure all
of the sheet metal was covered.

I created my own scrabble board and printed it out. I didn't
see any free printable scrabble out there though so maybe
 you can make a photo copy of the board if you don't want
to make your own. I then went over all of the pages with
a coat of Mod Podge to protect the pages.

I bought a frame you can put together yourself. It's a little thin
so I may still look for a 2'x2' frame or maybe make my own.

Hang it up!

Then write your own message or have an ongoing game.

Twigs and Twine .... with some help from the dogs

I decided to get a little crafty with some twigs from the yard and some leftover twine.

Twig Votive

I grabbed some twigs and broke them off in even pieces.

I used my hot glue gun to paste them onto a votive

In some areas I doubled up the twigs

And then added my twine

A little gift for my sweetie

I gathered a few twigs about the same length

Using a knife I CAREFULLY shaved off the first layer of bark
on one of the twigs

(A little hard to see) I wrote my quote in pencil

I broke out my wood burner and copied over my text

I used a rubber band to hold all the sticks together

I wrapped the twine around both ends to hold the sticks together

Let's stick together

Grrrr...... so I finished this last night and was going to publish my blog tonight. Unfortunately it totally slipped my mind that my precious little fur-babies LOVE to chew on sticks. And where did I leave my newest little craft project? On a side table... right where they could reach it.... this is what I came home to....

Not much left

So who did it? This one sure loves munching on sticks

But he looks pretty guilty.

Spring's coming!

A high in the 70's... in St. Louis.... in the middle of February??? I'll take it! And it was a perfect day to finish my Spring Wreath!

Makes me feel warmer just looking at it. Can't
wait for more warm weather!

Materials:
A wreath; your choice of yarn; flowers; a decorative item (I
selected some pearly beads), and I decided to use some
leftover burlap to hang the wreath.

I wanted to stagger my yarn so I marked off where I would
change colors. I made mine even but making them uneven
would be a nice effect too.

I started wrapping the yarn around the wreath and used my hot
glue gun but you can also use fabric glue.

1st round done.

I went back around each color to cover any uneven spots.

Add in your flowers and beads

Attached your burlap and hang!

Letter Art... with a twist

The alphabet letter art is huge right now. I wanted to create a more personal one with my soon-to-be new last name! ;)

I realized how light the H and M are once I stepped back and
snapped a photo. I'll have to go back and redo those.

I took pics of some of our important items

W - Our first engagement gift! A large W to display
O - The logo from my Christmas boots Jason bought me. I love them!
O -  I kept a charm that was from the first wedding Jason and I went to.
D - From our WorlD Series tickets from 2011. Go Cards!
H - Stole this image from my Beach Table.
A - From one of Jason's National GuArd bags.
M - Go Mizzou! Jason's favorite college team.

From a previous project I had an extra board and an extra dowel
rod. I purchased a smaller size board to glue to pictures to. I
cut them down to 4x4 inch squares and also cut the dowel rod at
varying lengths.

WEAR EYE PROTECTION! I'm not sure if I didn't have a good
hold of the rod when I was cutting or if there was a bad spot but
my saw kicked this piece up at me. Luckily there was no injury!

Let a piece of Steel Wool soak in Apple Cider
Vinegar overnight. Then scrub your board and
let it dry. Instant aging

I used Contact Cement to glue on the 'nubs'
but eventually I switched to an epoxy. I was
afraid the contact cement wouldn't hold the
weight. It was soaking into the wood too much

Missing a photo here but I printed out my pics and
glued them to my 4x4 pieces of wood. I then glued
the 4x4s to the nubs.

Almost done!

I drilled two holes (equal distance from the sides)
in the top of the wood

Screwed in two eye hooks

And thread some twine through. I went back
and forth 3 times but that adjustable.

Ummm... back to work. Need to fix
the H and M. It'll drive me nuts otherwise.

Wooden Letter Quote

I combined a couple techniques I've found. Trying to decide if I like it...

Thoughts?

I found a quote I liked and bought some wooden letters

I also had a couple of flowers I had doodled

Sorry for the lack of the next few pictures. I grabbed an
extra canvas and mod podged some phone book pages to
the canvas (I have to use the Yellow Pages for something).
I then painted over the phone book in white. Don't worry
about trying to smooth the pages down.

Once my paint dried I went over the canvas with some sandpaper.
The wrinkles of the phone book will ware off.

Glue down your wooden letters

I enlarged my flower doodle

And traced a copy onto the canvas

I then went over the flower with white paint

Almost done!

A little hard to see but I watered down some brown
paint and covered the canvas in small sections. Before
the paint dried I wiped off the excess paint. This will
give it an aged look

All done!