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Hello friends! Today’s tutorial is very similar to the DIY Dinosaur Plank Art that I shared on Monday, in fact that’s kind of where I got the idea.

I had made some letters to spell out Tristan’s name in his nursery before he was born. My original plan was to just reuse these, but switch out the colors.

They’re kind of cut off in this picture, but you can kind of get an idea of what they looked like.

Well as luck should have it, the original plan didn’t work out. I was thinking that when I made them before, I just applied some spray glue to the letters, laid them face down on the scrapbook paper and used scissors to cut the letters out.

But when I went to do it this time, I was finding it impossible to cut good cuts in the tight corners. So I ripped the paper off and went to plan B which was spraypaint. However, some of the paper didn’t come off. I thought that some hammered spray paint would cover it up but I was wrong. They looked terrible. So I tossed them to the side for a few days until I could figure out a plan C.

By the way, I just remembered this morning that I actually used a box cutter to cut the paper away from the letters. Ahhh!! It’s okay, I like how these turned out better for his theme so it was actually a good thing that I didn’t remember this 🙂

I purchased some chipboard letters at Hobby Lobby while they were 50% off.

(source)

I then used a foam roller to paint the front of each letter white, and went back around with a small brush to paint the edges different colors. I didn’t get a picture of this step (bad blogger!), but you’ll see what I mean in a bit 🙂

I knew that I wanted them to sit on something to make them easier to hang and more visually interesting, so I made planks just like the ones that I made for our faux metal letters in the kitchen.

I purchased a 2′ x 4′ sheet of 1/4″ birchwood and the hubby cut it up into 3″ planks.

I then cut them into 9″ pieces until I had enough for 3 planks for each letter (21 in my case). I gave them a light sand to get rid of any rough edges that were created with the saw.

I went over each with watered down paint to whitewash them. Each plank got two coats.

Tristan really enjoyed helping on this part. In fact he had a huge temper tantrum when I told him we were all done and there weren’t any more to paint…

Once they were dry, I cut up some small scrap pieces to attach the planks together. I first positioned them where I wanted them, then marked the edges so that I knew where to apply the liquid nails. Notice that I left a teensy tiny gap between the planks.

I set bricks on them and let them dry for a few hours. Later, I came back and attached a sawtooth picture hanger to the back of each.

Then all that was left to do was to glue the letters on using liquid nails and hang them on the wall!

I really like how the white letters pop against the wood, it’s the perfect combination.

Adding the different colors to the edges of the letters really adds dimension.

Even though I will always love his old letters simply because they were in his sweet baby room, these are definitely a nice switch for his big boy room 🙂

I didn’t budget for new letters, the cost wasn’t bad. The letters were only $1 each and the wood $10.

Linking up to these awesome parties!

This post was featured on Creative Spark Link Party hosted by Weekend Craft, Artsy Fartsy Link Party hosted by Artsy Fartsy Mama and Be Inspired hosted by Elizabeth & Co! Click on the images below to take you to the feature posts.