(Check my Christmas board)
Anyway, I decided this year I would make a Halloween sign.. Scratch that, I started this last year but didn't get very far.. I decided I'd finish it this year and add on to my Halloween wreath.
I totally forgot to take a pic before we drilled holes.. just imagine them less "holey".
Baking up some scares.
I barely even used 1/4th of the container. Lots left for future glitter projects, sorry hubs! ;)
Here's the finished product:
You will need:
- About $25-$35 and someone to drill holes for you (if you're a mess with drills like me)
- MDF or similar wooden board (approximately 2 feet by 4 feet)
- "BOO" wooden letters
- Purple glitter
- Purple acrylic paint
- Purple lights
- Wood or craft glue
- Foam paintbrush
- Cookie sheets (3)
I started with a trip to Hobby Lobby.. of course! These board letters run about $5 each.
Fun fact: you can use their 40% off coupon (found at www.hobbylobby.com ) on multiple items IF you bring your kiddos with you. Seriously. Even my 5 month old baby counts as "one person per day". Get in on that!
I also grabbed this purple glitter and acrylic paint while I was there.
The paint is about $1 and the glitter was $3. I also snagged these amazing purple lights for $5 while I was there.
These are seasonal so grab them while you can. So out the door from Hobby Lobby without coupons it runs about $25. I got mine for under $20 ;)
We had some leftover boards from a couple of projects so I had Micah cut them down to size and paint white for me (he said that a piece that size would be about $5-$10 FYI). My sweet hubs also drilled the holes in the letters for me. I spaced them out about every 1 inch.. and yes, it took foreeeeever for my OCD to be happy with the spacing. On the O's I started at the top with one in the center, if that helps your perfectionism too. ;)
Next step: Painting
Once the holes were in, I painted them purple with a foam paintbrush. Put the letter inside of the cookie sheet and paint it there... You'll understand why later. The acrylic paint washes out so clean up is so simple. I painted one layer to basically cover the board purple. Make sure you paint the edges. I had a lot of wood still visible through the thin layer but it doesn't matter.
Next step: Glitter
The second coat needs to be thicker, working in sections as you go, and you'll need to move a little fast with the process I did. I painted the top 1/3 ish of the letter with a little bit thicker layer of paint than the first coat and while it was still wet, I poured a handful of glitter into one hand and sprinkled it across the wet paint, putting a pretty thick amount on there.
Repeat the steps till the whole letter is covered in fresh paint and glitter.
I waited about 2 minutes before picking the letter up and tipping it on its side to get the excess glitter off.
This is where that cookie sheet comes in SUPER handy as it catches all of the stray glitter. My husband HATES glitter. Seriously HATES it because I may or may not have spilled an entire container of glitter in my family room... and we may or may not have had glitter all over our entire house for the following month. I dunno, it might have happened.. or not.
(Spoiler: it totally happened)
Anyway, get all the excess glitter off and place the finished letter in a new cookie sheet. You can put it on paper towels if you don't have a ton of cookie sheets.
Repeat the process for all letters, giving yourself ample time between stages for the paint to set and glitter to attach.
Another way you could attach the glitter is with glue, skipping the painting process altogether. That's what I did with my Christmas marquee and it worked well but it took a lot longer to get all the glitter on and it dried a lot faster than the paint did this time so I had a few more seconds per stage to get the glitter on.
Another reason to use cookie sheets with the glitter: I had TONS of it left over at the end because I poured the excess glitter on the cookie sheet back into the glitter tube.
Once your letters are all dry, the only thing left to do is glue the letters down, drill the holes, and string the lights through.
Next step: Gluing
I used some basic craft glue that frankly, is pretty old and past its prime. After squishing some hardened chunks out of the tube, I got enough glue to paint onto the backs of the letters and glue down. Make sure you make small pencil or pen marks around the edges of the letters so as you are placing the letter back on your board, you know where to put it without having to re-measure.
To help the letters stick, I used a cookie sheet and stood on it for about 5 min. each.
Having your phone handy is pretty nice so you can peruse Instagram while you wait. ;)
Next step: Drilling
Here's the setup.
And FYI my hubby used a 23/64 drill bit.
I didn't take a pic as we did the drilling because it was a mess.. And little disaster. Micah (my hubs and project manager haha!) started drilling the holes without me aaaaaand the letters totally moved as he drilled. Suck! Thankfully it was only on about half of the first letter so we could salvage it, but man it took a while. I took off the letter and we had to re-drill the holes, which was really complicated and hard because there were already holes really close to where we needed them to be, so the drill kept "walking" into the already drilled hole. About 20 minutes later we finally had the first letter done. For the remaining letters, I held them to the board as Micah drilled.
Once that was finished, I re-glued the letter on and we took the project upstairs to put the lights through.
Make sure they're all working before you start. I had to replace one bulb. Start at the top, with the B and with the "female" end of the light cord, aka the end that doesn't have the plug to go into the wall.
I basically put the bulbs in as far as they could stretch. Some I had to just string a random bulb across the back as you can see.
Continue down to the last letter and secure all the wires down as best you can. I used packing tape but you can use any tape that's strong enough to hold the wire in place. I definitely wouldn't do painter's tape FYI.. I tried that with my Christmas light marquee and it was a total disaster. I ended with about a foot of extra wire which is perfect for different placement options.
Once you've finished taping, stand up the board and check out your handiwork! You can attach 3M to the back and hang it on the wall or just prop it up. Mine will sit out on my porch, spooking up the street with its light. :)
Happy crafting!
xoxo
Mandi
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