My sister-in-law, Lindsi and I made these together this week. I have been making these paper covered letters for a little while now. This is the first attempt at the paper mache ones though and I have to say, I like working with the wood ones better. Wood can just take a beating better and it doesn't bubble as much when it gets mod podged.
But overall, I was pretty pleased. I love the Petals and Paisleys paper and matching stamps from the Stampin' Up! Spring mini catalog.
Here are the instructions that I promised. {Even though they are specific to this project, they can be easily adapted}
- Paint the back, sides, and insides of all letters with the desired paint color.
- Place "B" backwards on wrong side of paper and trace. Cut out. Don't worry if it is a little too big around the sides. You will take care of that in a minute
- Repeat this step for each letter on different papers.
- Cut out letters as going along.
- "B" is the only letter that paper was added on top of the cut out letter. Glue the strip down after piercing a hole through the center of the O in together. Add brad.
- Once all of the letters are cut out, take a foam brush and apply mod podge directly to the paper mache letter. Lay cut out letter onto the paper mache letter to adhere. As laying down, try to keep as smooth as possible. Bubbling may start to occur here. Run your fingers along all edges to help paper bond.
- Continue this step with each letter.
- Normally at this point, you would adhere another layer of Mod Podge on the top {don't worry, it clears dry as long as you keep it thin layers}. But if using the paper mache letters it's up to you, since it bubbles so badly.
- Once you have all of the letters covered, start sanding all the edges so that the parts that hang over are flush with all of the sides.
- Next start adding on all the extras! For "B" Use the big and small tag punches to create the tag. with twine and ribbon, tie around top of "B" so that hangs from top opening. Cris Cross ribbon on "l" from bottom to middle of letter. Tie in a knot in front. Add small chipboard flowers right above knot. On the small "o" take multiple ribbons and tie around the left side. For the big "O" add a couple Heidi Swapp flowers on top with a 1 3/8" circle in the middle. Stamp "happiness" from Warm Words stamp set in middle of circle. Punch 1/18" hole in top half of circle. Add brad through hole and through flowers to hold all together. Add a paperclip with ribbon tied around it to the circle. The last letter, "m" uses the Round tab punch. Stamp the word "memories" on it. Atach to "m". Take a blue flower from the Little Reminders Accents and Elements cardstock stickers and add off to side of round tab punch out and corner of "m". Stamp "happy" below round tab. Kris Cross ribbon on right side of "m" from top to middle. Tie in knot with another color of ribbon. Add another cardstock flower sticker and accent word sticker just below ribbon. Stamp "happy" below round tab.
The whole project takes about 3 hrs, start to finish.
Hope you enjoy it!
