My husband and I just moved last August to the LA area from Boston. Almost exactly a year into being CA residents, I was going insane not having anything on our walls (ok, we've NEVER had anything on our walls-- on either coast). It looked like we were living in a men's college dorm. So, this last Monday morning I decided that by Monday night we'd have art.
I took my love of Scrabble (I'm a 4th grade teacher, so I'm all for word appreciation!), all of our combined initials and pet names, and finally had something on the wall!
Inspiration: The incredible Insideways Blog
1. Go to Home Depot and purchase a light wood by the sheet. I bought a piece of sanded plywood. Have them cut it into 9.5" x 9.5" squares. (Or another size if that works better for you)
2. Use a finishing sanding sponge to slightly round out the edges (like how Scrabble tiles look) and make the sides smooth.
3. Grab a cold beer to reward yourself for having gotten this far without giving up.
4. Print out Scrabble letters to about the size of your tiles. I got mine here.
5. Use a pencil to scribble over the back of each letter on its piece of paper. (Think of this like the leaf or grave rubbings you did as a kid). Flip the paper with the letter back around to the right side, line it up to where you want it on your wood square, and press down on the outline of the letter. The scribble that you made on the back will help to transfer the letter outline faintly into the wood square.
6. From here, you have two choices. Artsy-crafty? Use a fine brush and acrylic paint to painstakingly outline and fill in the numbers and letter. Lazy like me? Grab a Sharpie or acrylic paint marker to outline the letter and corresponding number, then use the largest brush possible to fill in the middle with acrylic paint. Goes much faster!
7. Let the paint dry, then flip each tile over and attach some sort of hanging apparatus (you can buy wire or brackets or whatever you'd like to hang it by at craft stores like Michaels or AC Moore)
8. Hang it on your wall. Use a friend or spouse or neighbor or reluctant family member to make sure things are straight. Or you can just settle for "good enough", as I did.
Insideways was great at getting me what I needed to do this -- I would recommend getting an acrylic paint marker to do the outline faster, unless you're really patient and good at painting.
As I just did this on Monday, I actually remember -- I had a Hair of the Dog Adam to start, then split a Drake's Denogginizer when it came time to hang.
 | Post contributed by Lauren Obregón. Lauren is a crafting-impaired 4th grade teacher (an unfortunate combination). Having moved to the LA area from Boston one year ago, she can mostly be found enjoying the absurd amount of sunshine found on this coast, or driving around Tijuana discovering new Baja craft beers. |
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