Simple Dorm (Or Bedroom) Craft : Personalized Wooden Wall Letters

The school year is back! 

Its getting to be that time of year again where everyone is purchasing new clothes for the coming academic year, looking for the perfect, brand new backpack, that fits in with the latest fads or finding the perfect furnishings for their new dorm room (or should I say, their cramped closet-like space). Personalized wooden letters are the perfect addition to any dorm or bedroom wall!

I just purchased a bunch of 5-inch white wooden letters from Micheals for two dollars a piece.

They add up in price quickly so make sure to decide what you want your wooden sign to read before purchasing the actual letters.  You can do a motivational word, like love, peace or dream.  I, however, personally decided on writing both mine and my roommates name. 

First I started by painting each of name a decided base color with Craft Smart Acrylic Paint. I matched each of our names to our choice of dorm colors but you can do any color that your heart desires! 

Once two coats of the base color been painted on and have finally dried, its time to decide on what design you want your letters to have. Below I will included two separate tutorials, each with a step to step demonstration on how to get the two basic designs (polka dots and sparkly zig-zag stripes) however you can paint whatever design you want, you don't have to follow my designs unless you want too. 

Zig-Zag Stipes Pattern

Zig zags are the harder design of the two. To get to zig zags I placed tape in the zig zag design I wanted and then painted the whole letter white. Once the white paint was dry I went back in with both the light blue/green and the white paint for touch ups. Most letters look like the ending "A" before the touchups were done. Touchups make a huge difference. The finishing touch was going over the white zig zags with sparkly mod podge to get a sparkle effect. This step is optional. 

This is the finished letter with Zig Zags.
(The sparkles aren't very visible but in person they
definitely add a great unique element to the letters) 

Polka Dotted Pattern

Polka Dots are as easy as they sound! To get the golden polka dots I drew the dots free-hand with golden metallic acrylic paint and a thin point paintbrush. The thin point brush allowed me to have control over the size, width and shape of each dot. I varied the sizes of the polka dots in order to have a variety and give the letters a funky whimsical feel! 

Here is a close up shot of the finished dots!

No matter what design you ended up choosing the next step is the same for all wooden letters that you want to hang on your wall!  

Bisous, 

Emily & Liana (Limly)

Tips And Tutorials On Constructing The Perfect Little Whimsical Fairy Garden

(I owe you lovely readers all an apology. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have no major life shattering reason, it has purely been that I had a major time misconception--this craft and post itself took a lot longer to complete than I had originally thought.)

Have you recently been looking for a fun and unique craft project to start? Well, look no further! I have the perfect one just for you! Today, I am going show you how to make the perfect little whimsical fairy garden in just a few simple steps. The finished product can function as a magical new addition to your porch or garden, or like mine it be a fun and unique gift for a special child (or even adult) in your life! Here is a quick video tour of what your finished fairy garden could possibly end up looking like! Enjoy, be creative, make it your own, and of course, have fun crafting! 

I started with a large round pot that I purchased at Summer Winds. However you can get a similar pot at just about any nursery or home and gardens store. The size and even shape of the container is completely up to you! Choose a container that speaks to you, as this will be the base for your entire fairy garden. (I wanted to keep mine on the smaller side, to make it easy to transport. But if you are making yours for yourself, instead of a gift, you can go as BIG or as small as you would like. You can even use a plot of land in your own garden, to give you endless creative space, if you choose to.)

Once you have decided on the perfect pot or container, to hold your garden, its time to start building the basic foundation. I did this by purchasing a 12 inch cork mat at Summer Winds and placing it in the bottom of the pot.

Next I cut a circular piece of foam core to fit the pot and placed it on top of the cork mat. I then lined the pot with preserved sheet moss, also which, I purchased at Summer Winds.

 

                                                                     

NOTE: Another alternative option, is to completely fill your pot with soil or even sand. I decided on the foam core and moss because I wanted to prevent soil spills and keep the weight of the garden as light as possible. If you later want to add live plants to your fairy garden I would recommend going with the soil option.

Next its time to get creative! From here on out the post consists of tutorials for everything that I added to my fairy garden, you can pick and choose, what you like from my ideas and you can of course, include some of your own fun ideas, to make your garden fit YOU and make it have your very own style.

Clear Blue River Tutorial 

To make the river all I did was purchase a big bag of blue sea glass at Summer Winds. Before working with them I made sure to wash them until they were nice and clean, in order to make them sparkle and shine when the light hits them. I then placed them one by one to form the shape, length and width of the river I wanted. To give the river even more of a stereotypical river look I lined both sides with small river pebbles that I found in my craft cupboard. If you choose to (and are brave enough) you can even make your river out of real water. This option is perfect for the more natural gardens, the ones built on real plots of actual land, or the ones with living plants or flowers growing in them. 

Fairy Tree Tutorial (Includes Swing)

Near the back of the pot I created a large whimsical fairy tree. 

I first broke branches that I bought at Micheals. I combined which branches I wanted, to make a tree. You can give your tree as many or as few branches as you would like. I also made a point to make one branch stronger and longer than the others, as I wanted to tie a swing onto the branch later. 

I then used preserved moss as the tufts of greenary on the bare branches.  I glued them on using a glue gun.

Next I wanted to add a little whimsy to the fairy tree. I did this by adding the detail of a small sparkly white fence around the tree. I bought a package of Lara's Crafts', individual 2" fence pickets and painted them with transparent sparkly modpodge, which can be bought at Michael's or most any other craft store. To hold them in the ground (or in this case foam) I glued toothpicks on the back. I then painted them to match the fence and used modpodge to hold the toothpicks in place without leaving any unwanted residue. 

 

When sticking the fence pickets in place around the tree, I left an opening in the front and attached a small open gate that I made from "Woodsies" 2 1/2 inch mini craft sticks. All I did for the gate was paint the craft sticks with white paint and sparkly mod podge to match the pickets and cut the bottoms off, later gluing the sticks together to make a perfect fairy gate. 

Last but not least I added the swing. I went to backyard and found the perfect piece of thicker bark and drilled two holes into either end. Next I strung a piece twine through the holes of the bark tying them each off with a knot and then strung the other end of the twine through the holes of the longer tree branch tying the swing to the branch with a second knot.

Fairy Table Tutorial  (Cup place setting included)

To make the fairy table I used four of the faux tree trunk stepping stones that I purchased at Summer Winds and a piece of redwood bark.

I stacked the stepping stones on top of each other, gluing them in place, with a glue gun, and then glued the large piece of redwood tree bark, that I found in my backyard, to the top, to create the table surface.

For the cups I just cut two small pieces of a hollow reed like weed that I found growing in my front yard and placed them as the table setting. 

FINISHING TOUCHES!

Around the edge of the whole pot as well as intertwined around the fence I added small LED fairy lights that I purchased at a store in Los Gatos called Whatnot and Doodads.

All fairy gardens need a few fairies. I purchased four large fairies and three little ones from a fun store Whatnots and Dodads as well and placed them around the garden. You can place the fairies as if they are interacting to make the scene even more fun and festive. From the same store I also purchased a colorful mushroom to add to the garden.

Last but not least all fairies have a few animal friends! (At least fairies in a garden, that will be going to a 10 year old, who aspires to be a vet do!)

I purchased the above animals at Summer Winds. 

Please note both the animals and smaller fairies, although purchased separately at different store, are the same collection. They are both part of the Land and Sea Nature Series.

Other finishing touches purchased at Summer Winds also include birdbath with frog adornment, and tree stump stepping stones. 

I hope you enjoyed my fairy garden tour and tutorials! 

If you like what you have seen please remember to comment and share our blog with your friends and family. Thanks! 

Bisous, 

Emily and Liana (Limly)