Wednesday, April 28, 2010

brought to you by the letter M



I was inspired by this post at Calamity Anne's Adventures last week, F is for Fleetwood. She altered a GIANT paper mache letter and it turned out really cool! I found some of those big paper mache letters at joann.com but being impatient (and crafty, hehe), I decided to make my own.

I found a fun tutorial for making your own paper mache letters over on Me Like Stuff. But, I was thinking, that is alot of work for something I am just going to cover in paper anyway...like I said, impatient! I don't want to wait for paper mache to dry!

So...I came up with my own design, using RECYCLED PRIORITY MAIL BOXES! Any cardboard would work, but I like the sturdyness of these boxes, and using scraps from several different boxes, you get a consistent thickness, texture, etc. I save used boxes, and cutting them in to manageable pieces makes them easier to store. For this project I broke out my stack of 7 x 7 inch squares.



First, I cut out 2 simple letter Ms, one for the front, one for the back. I just used a ruler and pencil, but you can use a computer to print a big letter and trace it onto your cardboard. Next, I cut 1½ inch wide strips of cardboard to fit all sides of the letters. I broke out the trusty glue gun and started gluing things together.




The hot glue was messy and squished out the sides. I just let it cool then used a craft knife to trim off the excess. My front and back pieces did not align perfectly when I finished, so I just trimmed away the extra, also with my craft knife.




TaDa! Chunky cardboard letter M! (Measures about 6½ by 6½ by 1½ inches)



I am loving black and white lately, so I chose this fab pattern from my scrapbooking stash:



One sheet wasn't large enough to do both sides of the letter, so I covered the other side in black. Now I can have two different looks, solid black or black and white:



I covered the sides with the remaining pattern paper:



Cute, cute letter M:



And because I can NEVER just leave well enough alone...I inked the edges with some Charcoal Chalk Ink:



The black side was a little to blah for me...so I took embellished with some of my ribbon yoyos.



Here's M with my paper rose ball and those black birds I love so much:



And the other side of M:



Costwise, this project was super duper cheap. I didn't have to buy anything! Recycled cardboard (free), hot glue and glue gun (on hand), paper (original cost, less than $1 for both cardstock and pattern paper) and chalk ink (on hand, optional, $2 new).

I think my little display is complete! I need to hang a shelf to place them on. I will share pics soon!

Went thrifting with my youngest sister this weekend and found lots of treasures. Here is a sneak peek of projects in progress:

shh, it's a secret!a rubik's cubea tacky purple w


Linking up with:

Whatever Goes Wednesdays Blog Party at Someday Crafts



Transform Tuesday Blog Party at The Pumpkin Patch



Look What I Made! Blog Party at Creations by Kara

Creations by Kara

Show & Tell Wednesday Blog Party at Blue Cricket Design



Be Inspired Blog Party at Room to Inspire



I Made It Blog Party on Everything Etsy



Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori

Get your craft on Thurs.

All Things Dreamy Blog Party on Sweet European Dreams



Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

giveaways

Hooking Up With House of Hepworths

HookingupwithHoH

Show Off Your Stuff Party at Fireflies and Jellybeans



I'm So Crafty Fridays at Fun To Craft



Hodgepodge Friday at It's A Hodgepodge Life



Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride



Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!

Crafty Crafty Ladies Night Link Party at Aly and Ash


49 comments:

Sarah @ The Pumpkin Patch said...

I am so impressed!!! I have a ton of priority mail boxes that I use for my store. I think I might be making a big letter too. I seriously love this! Thanks for joining my party too. :)

Unknown said...

Wow, that is really good. The letter is amazing. I am cheap but I would of never done that!! You are good! I love your whole display. Great job!!

Mel said...

You had me at "M" :)

I am so not crafty and when I do attempt to be, I usually get frustrated and give up. Your directions were so good that I will give this a go.

Thanks for sharing this awesome project.

Mel

Julie{isCocoandCocoa} said...

Very cute! I wonder how hard a G would be though...

Allison @ House of Hepworths said...

You beat me to the punch! I'm looking at a half finished "H" on my kitchen counter right now! (The H is done but I'm currently putting the paper on it. Your's turned out great!! You should link it up at my party going on right.now!

Anne said...

WOW!!! Your letter M turned out fantastic...and it's truly made from scratch! I love the black and white theme too!

Beverly {Flamingo Toes} said...

I absolutely love this! And an "M" is perfect for me! :) Thanks for the tutorial. I'm definately adding this to my to do list. Glad I found you!

memakingdo said...

I love that so dang cute and thrifty!

Kenzie said...

I can't believe you made your own M! It looks amazing! Great job!

Room to Inspire said...

Oh my goodness, I just love that you MADE your M out of a box! Very thrift and creative. It looks great with your black "bling" ball from last week. Thanks for linking up to Be Inspired today.

Chelsea

Sweet European Dreams said...

Christy, this is adorable! I've also ALMOST bought the naked letters from JoAnn's, but had the same thought - I was only going to be covering it up, so it seemed a little pricey. Yours is a beauty! With a craft knife and mod-podge, there is nothing we can't do!

Anonymous said...

Totally love this!! Very cool that it is cute on the back too. :)

Ann @ makethebestofthings said...

Okay, it's late and I'm reading along your directions and exclaiming to myself, "Man, this is so clever and cute, I've got to share this with Christy.......HEY!!!!!" LOL!
I didn't even look at the header I just went straight to the project. Sorry sweetie! Excellent excellent smart idea that looks too cute!

One Cheap B*tch said...

Loving your M! Thanks for sharing the DIY! Coming over from EverythingEtsy and a happy new follower!

Jeanine

Anonymous said...

I am going to make on of these way cute

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

Your M is great! thanks for the awesome tutorial! :)

Laura said...

Thank you for sharing.

I have a craft party on Saturdays and I'd love it if you linked up!
http://www.iamalongfortheride.blogspot.com

TheCraftInMe said...

Wow, this looks so good, thanks for the tutorial!

Lori said...

WOW! I totally love your "M". I think i'm going to try this...

Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday. Please join me next week for another great party!

Allison @ House of Hepworths said...

I know I already commented once, but I just want to thank you so much for Hookin' Up with me! ;)

Wendy said...

I can't believe you made a letter from scratch! Love It!

I really like that paper. I am working on my letter M today!

Rose @ Confessions of a Curbshopaholic said...

That is so pretty! I can't decide which side I like better.
Nice repurpose of the boxes too!
Rose

Mel said...

Hi Christy. I followed your tutorial (for the most part) and made my own. Thanks so much.
http://junkinjunky.blogspot.com/2010/05/chunky-letter-m.html

Beckie said...

I am in love with this! And will definitely be making one myself! And those birds are adorable...where did you get them? Have a fabulous weekend! And thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Jax @ AlyandAsh said...

Very chic! I love it! I am hosting a Mod Podge Projects Only Link Party this weekend and would love it if you came and linked up!

http://alyashcreations.blogspot.com/2010/05/crafty-crafty-ladies-night-link-party.html

FrouFrouBritches said...

Oh my gracious! I am so impressed by you. I am impatient and a little lazy. I would've just bought the letter. Love it though. You're a better woman than I am!!!! It turned out great!!!

Maria@BubblegumandDuctTape said...

That turned out very cute, I love it! I love how you also display the other items next to it and how you added the flowers with buttons on the side. Love you blog, I'm a new follower....came over from Saturday is Craft Day.

Life in Rehab said...

Too flippin' cool! Now you KNOW I have to do this. I made the hop over here from sweet Mel at the Junkin' Junky. I've poked around a bit too, and you definitely made my blogroll.

Stephanie Cameron said...

Totally cool! I want to do this!

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

I love your idea!! We featured it on www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com so come on over and grab a button!! Make sure you check out Whatever Goes Wednesday tomorrow!!

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

This is so much better than the recycled cardboard & papier mache letters I made. They took FOREVER!!

Laura said...

I love this idea!

Thank you for linking up to "Saturday is Crafty Day." I hope to see you back next week!

Stacey said...

This is darling. I am WAY impressed. I can't believe you crafted that out of cardboard. Thanks for sharing at 'Look at me, I'm SO Crafty!' at Fun to Craft.

Stacey said...

I featured you as part of 'Look at me, I'm SO Crafty!' at Fun to Craft. Thanks for linking up and be sure to come by and snag a featured button!!

Crystal said...

Wow this is so pretty. I love the colors. I never would have thought to make my own letter-thanks for the inspiration. I'll be featuring this on Friday, hope that's okay.
-Crystal
crystalscraftspot.blogspot.com

Allison @ House of Hepworths said...

I featured you at my link party this week. Feel free to grab a featured button!

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2010/05/05/lets-hook-up/

Krista @ Craving Some Creativity said...

Featured this on my blog this week cuz I loved it so much:) Have a great weekend!

Deborah@Green Willow Pond said...

Oh my...that is awesome! I just love everything about it...the paper you used, the embellishments and the display. Gorgeous!!

Jamielyn said...

wow I LOVE it!! so cute! Come link it up @ http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/

Jami said...

I found your beautiful blog from your mom! Your letters are gorgeous! I hope you'll stop by my First Pretty Packages Party and share some of your fabulous talent!
Just pick up a button for an easy reminder!
www.blackberryvine.blogspot.com
Smiles!!

Unknown said...

I found your blog from your moms as well. I love these letters. Why did I not think of that. I love letters My initial is "M" too and I have started collecting them.
New follower:)

Makalani
www.MakazHome.com

Unknown said...

I found your blog from your moms as well. I love these letters. Why did I not think of that. I love letters My initial is "M" too and I have started collecting them.
New follower:)

Makalani
www.MakazHome.com

Ami Allison said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I can't wait to try this!!

p.s. I'm your newest follower!!! :)

Unknown said...

I am in LOVE! This is so adorable, and like you said, super cheap! I love that combination! I've found my next project... or at least the next one to add to my list! Thanks for sharing!

Krista
whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com

Santa's Gift Shoppe and Ideas said...

This is so great!! Love it & you did a fantastic job!!Hi..I’m Barb…
I am your newest follower. I hope you will get a chance to visit my blog @ santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com & get inspired by something for your family/home. I hope you will follow me as well. I also would love for you to be a new Fan of my Facebook page too & click “LIKE” in the upper right hand corner of my blog & you’ve done it..Thanks so much! I am just starting at Facebook. Nice to meet ya new friend!!!

. said...

I'm totally in LOVE!!

I have UPS boxes in my closet right now that I was going to make magazine holders out of...but I may have just changed my mind. :)

lmlewis35 said...

I tried to make this and it came out ok. I am still unsure of how you got the edges to look good. i have mine cut straight but where the paper joins it looks odd. I have also tried using just one color of paper. Any tips?

Anonymous said...

Hi! I absolutely love your 3D letters!!! They are so simple to make and yet so effective!! I currently make my own letters for customers that ask for them but wish to know if you have any ideas for adding some sort of weight on the bottom inside of the letters to make them more stable when freestanding on a table...especially letters with a smaller base.
Any ideas???

Anonymous said...

Lucky Club Lucky Club Online Casino | Free Online Slots
Try over 600 FREE casino slots for FREE from our Casino Games studio! ✓ Register a New Player ✓ Claim Exclusive No Deposit 카지노사이트luckclub Bonuses ✓ Best Lucky Club Casino