Time for Christmas crafts!!!

It's that time of year, when the world falls in love! Every song you hear seems to say "Merry Christmas, may your new year dreams come true!"

I LOVE this time of year! As soon as Halloween is done, I move on straight to Christmas! Yes, I know. The turkey deserves its day, and he gets it! I just happen to have my Christmas tree up in the background as we "gobble" him up :)

I happened to have some free time on my hands today cause I wasn't feeling too well. So, I decided to try my hands at my first Christmas craft of the season! I started with this....

and ended with this!

I have seen these letters on Pinterest and just knew that I had to have a set of my own for my mantle! This was so easy to do, and even better, it was so inexpensive!!! You could use actual wood letters which I will probably do for a different project, but for today, this was perfect!

Materials:
Foam core project board
Stencil or printed letters on computer paper
Exacto knife
Finishing supplies
Hot glue

First, print out the letters you want to use in the size you want on your computer. Or use a stencil if you want. I went the more difficult yet cheap route :)

I used pencil and put a layer on the back of my letters...

Then when you trace on your foam board, it will leave an outline behind.

You may not be able to see the outline, but it's there ;)

Next, cut out all your letters with an Exacto knife. Note: use a SHARP Exacto knife! I used a not so sharp one on my first letter, and it was nearly ruined.

Now it's time for the fun part...painting! I wanted my letters to look like wood even though they weren't, so I wanted to do a really antiqued, grainy, crackled look. I painted all the letters brown.

Next, I painted on a layer of Elmer's glue. Did you know that Elmer's glue works as a crackling medium?! I have learned some amazing things on Pinterest! Don't let it fully dry! You want it to be tacky!

Now, add your main color paint. I used white and blue to go with my Christmas color scheme.

As it dries, you will see it start to crackle. I think this was the coolest part :)

Let that fully dry. You can stop here if you'd like. I went one step further and did a wash of brown over the letters so they looked old. Just water down brown paint, paint it on, then wipe it off.

Next, hot glue the letters together in the way you want.

Last step, put it on display and admire your crafty work! I'm in love with this :) I might make one that says "love" to display all year!

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Until next time, happy crafting!