One of my favorite crafts to do is “Altered” Wooden Letters. You may have seen some of these at a craft fair, in a boutique, or at a friend’s house and thought, “That’s so cute!” or “Who made that?” Well, now you can take all the credit because I’m gonna give you the few simple steps to making them. It’s easy, I promise!

1) Gather your supplies:

• wooden letter(s) from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s
• newspaper or paper towels
• 1 bottle of Mod Podge
• 1 small foam paint brush
• scrapbook paper of your choice
• paint (if desired)
• pencil
• scissors

2) Turn the wooden letters upside down and trace the shapes onto the back of the scrapbook paper that you want to show on the front of the letter.

3)  Paint the wooden letter the color you wish. For the paper/painted hybrid version that I like to do, it is only important to make sure that the sides and backs are painted well. I usually paint the whole letter, worrying mostly about how the sides look. Sometimes (because I like to use a light paint color) I have to paint 2 coats to have it looking the way I like. * Also if you are painting the back, the painting should be broken down into more steps, allowing each side to dry so that it doesn’t stick to the newspaper!*

4) While the paint dries, cut out the scrapbook paper letters.

5)  After the paint has dried, lay the paper letters onto the top of the wooden letters. Make sure they will fit. (If they are too big, that is fine too! You can always come back and trim the edges later!)

6)  Dip your paint brush into the bottle of Mod Podge and paint a thin coat onto the front of each letter. Then lay the paper letter on top and smooth it down with your fingers.  Let the letters dry for 10 minutes or more.

7)  Now, apply another thin coat of Mod Podge on top of the paper.  This will give it a shiny/glossy look. (You can skip this step if you want the final product to be more rugged or natural.)

8)  After the top layer has dried, now you can trim any excess paper that might be hanging over the edges. I use a small pair of scissors to do this because it is easier to get into the corners.

9) Add any finishing touches that you desire: paint, glitter, ribbon, bows, buttons, any embellishments of your choice!

Here is the latest letter that I did for another baby girl’s nursery. It’s my favorite so far. I just did a simple “E” for Emelyn to hang on the nursery door.  We hung it on the door to the hospital room when she was born, but they had already hung a wreath for Christmas, so we tried to work with it. However, using one of these letters in a wreath could be a cute idea too!

Altered wooden letters aren’t just for nurseries either! Use them: