Holiday Greeting Letters DIY

Hi guys! 

     Recently I was invited to be a guest blogger for a group of awesome gals who call themselves Ladies of the Mountains (LOTM).  They have asked me to share a holiday craft DIY with you, so after some thought I decided I would make some festive holiday lettering decor, which was originally inspired by these monograms from Anthropologie!  I don't know about you, but I can't currently afford to pay $48 for a wooden letter!  This DIY cost me a total of, drum roll please, ZERO DOLLARS, because I already had all of the supplies!  And I quite like my new room letters!  I will walk you through the simple steps I took to make the holiday greetings decor below.

1. Pick out your phrase! I originally was planning to do the phrase "Merry & Bright" but realized I needed quite a large amount of space to fit those letters! Some other fun options would be "Peace", "Joy", or "Fa La La".  

Supplies Needed: Old magazines, ruler, scissors, exacto knife (box cutter), markers, craft glue, and cardboard.
2. Rip out some of your favorite pictures from magazines.  The magazines I used for this project were Free People, Anthropologie, Swell, and Urban Outfitters.  I tried to choose images that had a lot of colors or textures that would show up well.

 3. Draw a letter onto each magazine page.  Make sure to use a ruler so you can keep your letters relatively the same size with straight edges.  My letters were all approximately 7"x 8.5". You can look at different fonts online for guidance!

 4.  Cut out your letters, but if there is an inside cutout on the letter, like on a "B", leave those for now.

 5. Using your exact knife, cut out cardboard mounting squares for each letter.  Make sure to be cutting on at least two layers of cardboard so you don't ruin whatever is beneath what you're cutting.

 6.  Glue your letters to the cardboard squares.  Make sure the letters have a light coat of glue completely covering the back, and use your finger to smooth down any bubbles or lines once the letter is in place. Let dry.

 7. Lastly, use your exacto knife to cut out the letters!  Curved letters are harder to cut, but still doable.  Practice making some curves on scrap cardboard first, and remember to press hard and point the knife away from you! Smooth solid lines of cutting movement make the best edges. And voila! Now you have your pretty holiday greeting letters to put anywhere you please!  Below are a few examples of different ways I tried arranging them in different places around my room.  Which is your favorite?

For now, they will be living in the little picture window above my bed!  Whew, I have not done a craft project in such a long time, it felt so nice to be creative after work instead of my typical slumpy ball of hatefulness! Also, I would like to point out my new digitally printed "barn wood" floor mat that I asked my parents for for my birthday! I am planning to use it as my flooring for my vintage listings on etsy, but it worked really nicely as a display area for this project too! So much better then the lumpy carpet that's actually in my bedroom!
    I hope you guys enjoyed that little DIY! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and if you decide to try out making your own letter or word yourself, let me know!  Now I will be heading over to see all of the holiday crafts from the other lovely Ladies of the Mountains, and you guys should too!
http://www.gentrilee.com/

http://www.lenamusings.com/

http://acrookedtrail.blogspot.com/

http://nicolescoffeeshop.blogspot.com/

http://www.ontheadventure.net/

http://theeggoutwest.blogspot.com/

xo hannah