With just a few craft supplies, you can jazz up a piece of cardboard to make a cool decoration. You can transform the letter of your first name into a fun decoration to hang on your bedroom door or closet door or inside your locker at school.
This fun craft makes a great handmade gift for a sibling or friend, too. You can decorate the first letter of your sister’s name with her favorite colors, or create a sports-themed letter decoration for your brother.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- Computer with word processing program and printer
- Scissors
- Pen or pencil
- Cardboard (You can recycle a cereal or cracker box.)
- Ribbon or yarn
- Stapler
- Colored paper – construction paper, scrapbook paper or wrapping paper
- Glue
- Decorative items such as buttons, sequins, glitter and stickers
WHAT TO DO:
- Using a word processing program on a computer, type the letter you want to decorate. Size the letter really big, such as 600 or 700 point font (font means the style or look of the letter). Try out different fonts. Once you find a font you like, print out the letter.
- Cut out the letter.
- Place the letter on top of a piece of cardboard. You can recycle by using an empty cereal or cracker box. Trace around the letter with a pen or pencil.
- Cut out the cardboard letter.
- Cut a piece of ribbon or yarn that is long enough to fit around a door knob. Form the ribbon or yarn into a loop and staple it to the back of the letter at the top so that you can hang the letter from a door knob or on a hook. (If your letter is an “H” or “M” or other letter that doesn’t stretch across the top, you can staple the loop of ribbon to the middle of the letter. See the picture of the “H” at right as an example.)
- The next step is to cover your letter with colored or patterned paper. You can use construction paper, scrapbook paper or wrapping paper. Lay the letter on top of the paper and trace around it with a pen or pencil. If you’re making the letter as a gift, you could use the favorite color of the person for which you’re making it.
- Cut the letter out of the decorative paper and glue it on top of the cardboard letter. Let it dry.
- Next, pick out decorations for your letter. You can use buttons, sequins, ribbon, doilies, glitter and any other decorations you find. Glue the decorations to the letter. You can also use stickers. Let the letter dry completely before you hang it up.
- If you get really creative, you can create enough letters to spell out an entire name or word.
