Make Something Monday - Christmas In July

Yes, I am working on Christmas crafts already.  Is anyone really surprised by this?

I decided to start working on our family Christmas ornaments a little early.  We use Christmas ornaments every year to draw names for our family gift exchange, and I was so excited to make them again this year due to my new-found love affair with Mod Podge.

I purchased the wooden letters, papers, and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

 I sanded down the edges of the letters and then cut out the shapes of each of the individual letters.  I found out this is easier to do before painting because I use a craft knife to trace out the shape of the letters and every once in a while I get too close to the wood and shave a little off.

Then, I punched a hole in the letters and traced the location onto the letters with a pencil.  Deputy D helped me to drill the holes in the letters.  This wood is really soft and I had trouble with splintering when I tried to do it myself.  Deputy D seems to be able to drill them cleanly.  I then used a Dremmel tool to clean up the edges of the holes.

I painted the letters with coordinating colors to the papers.  I tried a new brand of craft print from Michael's and it worked out pretty well.  On a side note, acrylic paint has a shelf life of something less than 12 years.  I purchased my stash of paints sometime in college, and ended up throwing them all away.  Now I have to go through the process of replacing all of my colors.

Once the paint had dried, I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the letters and let it dry for 15 minutes.  Then, I covered it up with a layer of Mod Podge and let it dry overnight.

I punched out snowflakes using a punch that I purchased from Michael's when they were on sale.

I decorated the the letters with the snowflakes and adhered them with Mod Podge.  While that was drying, I added initials and the year to the back of the letters.

I put layers of Mod Podge over everything, three layers total.

For the final touch, I added glittered ribbon that I purchased from Hobby Lobby to be used for hanging.

And the Christmas count-down has begun!