Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Huge Glittered Letters

I saw a tutorial on Miss Mustard Seed's blog about how to do glittered letters.  http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2010/11/glittered-letter-tutorial-finally.html  This INSPIRED the heck out of me!  I wanted to do those for the upcoming shower I was throwing, but I wanted them to be really big! (shocking that I would want to go big or go home??)  In order to get them really large, but make them somewhat sturdy, I cut them out of stryofoam.  Home Depot sells sheets that are made for insulation.  I thought that would work really well for this project.  http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100320356/h_d2/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&keyword=foam+sheets&jspStoreDir=hdus&Nu=P_PARENT_ID&selectedCatgry=SEARCH+ALL&navFlow=3&catalogId=10053&langId=-1&ddkey=Search. (that link looks really long and ugly, but I wanted you to see exactly what I am talking about!)

I have used this foam to make headboards for beds, and for large scale Halloween decorations.  I found a couple of fonts that I liked, and free handed them out with a sharpie onto the foam.  If you aren't able to freehand, you can print out your letters, and take them to an office supply store to have them enlarged to the size you want. 


I found a tool that is made for cutting foam at Jo Ann's Fabrics.  It is called a hot wire.  It looks like a little curling iron, but with a wire.



It heats up, and literally melts right through the foam, to cut whatever intricate shape you need!  I got mine for $10.00, because I had a 50% off coupon!  Best investment ever!


After letters were all cut out, I painted them pink with my fabulous Modern Masters pink metallic paint.



When the paint dried, it was glitter time!
I picked out a couple of different glitters, a pink and an irridecent white.  I dumped it all into a large tub so I could recycle it over and over.

Then I brushed good old Elmer's glue onto the letters, and poured glitter over each one until it was covered.


My niece Maycee, who helped me, said I reminded her of Kesha.  I still haven't googled that person, but I am told she throws glitter everywhere.  I like her already, any girl who throw's glitter is a friend of mine!

This was the "drying station"



The final result, was a dramatic, ginourmous wall hanging for the shower.  We found out, (after cleaning up a lot of glitter from fallen letters!) the best way to hang these, is to use Command Strips by 3-M.  http://www.command.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NACommand/Command/  They have tons of items that will allow you to hang items securely to your wall, but will not take paint off when they are removed.  (otherwise, I would be faux painting my sister's wall right now!)


They made quite a statement.  So the moral of the story is IF A LITTLE IS GOOD, A LOT WILL BE BETTER!!!

The good news is, I think we may be able to find somewhere to use these at the wedding too!

They sky is the limit on this project.  You could cut out a cupcake or a birthday cake, or whatever shape you want and use it to put in the yard for your upcoming party.  Use your imagination to make it your own!

Have a blessed day today!
Luvyameanit.
Nee' Nee'

2 comments:

  1. The letters were my favorite decoration! I'm glad the command strips worked. I told you command strips can hang anything!
    - Meagan

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  2. Yes, Meagan, you changed my life by introducing me to Command Strips!! luvyameanit!

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