Tutorial: Covering Wood Letters with Scrapbook Paper (without modpodge)

I did this project a couple months ago for Finley's bedroom.  I loved the way it turned out that I knew I would do it again for the baby's room.  It's easy and inexpensive (thanks to not having to buy Modpodge) which is just my kind of project.

Supplies Needed:

Wood Letters- I bought mine at Hobby Lobby.  Wood Letters were 50% off so they were $1.50 each.

Scrapbook Paper- I bought individual sheets at Hobby Lobby, but you can save even more money if you have some laying around at home.  (I did, but it was a bit girly for a boy nursery)

All Purpose Glue

Foam Paint Brush


Instructions:

1.  Trace your letters on the right side of the paper. 

2.  Cut out your traced letters on the inside of the drawn lines. 

3. Make sure your cut out letters fit the wood letters.  If there are areas where the paper goes over the edge just trim.

4.  Coat the wood letters with the All Purpose glue.  Using the foam paint brush, spread the glue into an even layer covering the entire front side of the letter.

5.  Place the paper on top of the glue.  Press the paper down and try to eliminate any air bubbles.

6.  In a small bowl/jar mix about a quarter size amount of glue with a dash of water to create a milky glue mixture.  This is just like Modpodge and dries clear.

7.  Coat the letters with the paper glued on with the milky watered down glue.  This will become the clear coat.  You can decide to coat it only once or up to 3 times.  The more layers... the more protected the paper will be.

8.  Hang and Enjoy!

All in all, for a 6 letter name, this project cost me $12.  Not too shabby!

Tips: Lets learn from my mistakes, shall we? (mostly due to laziness and impatience)

• Make sure the letters are upright when tracing.  Pretty self-explanatory, but leave it to me to trace my S upside down on paper that couldn't be used in either direction.  Oh well, I improvised and hung the letter upside down on the wall. 
• To trim excess paper on the letters, you can use a knife or a nail file.  The nail file will give it a distressed or softened edge which looks quite nice.  I did this to Finley's letters.
• To help eliminate air bubbles, use a spatula or a roller when pressing the paper onto the glued covered wood.
• Be careful when pressing paper onto the wood.  If you press too hard, the paper may rip.  oops!
• Do 2-3 coats of clear coat... I did only 1 here and the paper wasn't as protected as I would have liked.  Damn my impatience!
• Let the letters fully dry after the clear coat.  I hung my letters while they were semi-wet and some of the paper tore on one letter because of this.  Again, damn my impatience!