A is for Art

Vera's bedroom walls were looking a little bare so I made her a couple pieces of art.

Vera's silhouette at one-year-old. I completely copied this idea from my friend Bethany, who made one for her daughter. Canvas, paint, paper, and mod podge. Done. Super cute and super easy.

I also made her an alphabet painting.

I started by printing letters of different fonts and sizes onto label paper.

I used a piece of scrap plywood instead of a canvas because I wanted the wood grain to show through for some of the letters. I cut the letters out and stuck several of them to the plywood, then painted over the entire piece of plywood with pink paint. Then I stuck down several more letters and painted it with a coat of blue paint. I repeated this process with the remaining letters and paint colors. Once the paint was dry, I peeled off all the letters to expose the paint beneath. The paint bled a little bit around the edges of the letters, but I was ok with that since I was going for a slightly distressed look. I lightly sanded it to further distress some areas.

ABCs

Remember those plastic alphabet letters you had as a child?

I decided to make a soft version out of felt for my youngest niece, who's turning one this month. This was a really fun project! I chose felt in teal, purple, and pink, and sewed a magnet inside each letter.

I started by printing out each letter of the alphabet, using Arial Black font, size 220. Then I cut out each letter and traced it on to my felt, using a fabric marking pen or chalk. I then cut out a square of felt around the letter and sewed around my outline, slipping the magnet inside before sewing the letter closed. If you're using a metal bobbin, you want to be very careful that the magnet does not pull your bobbin out of place while sewing and tangle your thread. Try to keep the magnet as far away from the bobbin as possible while sewing. I found it helpful to pin it in to a corner so it wouldn't move around.

After that, I carefully cut around the edges of the letter, again minding the magnet so it didn't stick to my scissors and cause a crooked cut.

I also made a drawstring bag to hold all the letters.