I have always wanted to design a home decor project using large letters. I think the addition of pronounced letters used to spell an inspiring word across a wall or on a shelf is striking. Wooden Letters is a company based out of Fayetville, Arkansas and they specialize in making wooden letters for walls and signs. They recently sent our ScrapFriends team a variety of wooden letters in different fonts to review and when I found out I would be working with the word “Inspire”, I was thrilled!

For this review I received seven wooden letters that spelled the word “Inspire”. Each wooden letter is made from a high quality pine plywood. My letters came in the “Georgia” font, and the smallest letter was eight inches in length. Since the wooden letters are measured off of the shortest wood letter for that font, some of the letters were taller than eight inches. The letters come already cut and sanded, and are approximately 1/2″ thick. Since the letters are not painted and have already been sanded, they provide the perfect surface to paint, decorate, and alter. Each of the letters in the eight inch size are priced at a reasonable $5.25. Wooden letters currently has over 30 different fonts to choose from, and their letters are available in sizes that range from four inches all the way up to 24 inches depending on the type of wooden letter you choose. You also have the option of ordering all uppercase letters, all lowercase letters, or having what I received which is one uppercase and the rest lowercase.

After purchasing a 24″ x 36″ cork board at a garage sale, I decided it would be cool to dress it up with the wooden letters and create a wall hanging. To begin, I used a quick dry craft glue to adhere the wooden letters to the center of the cork board. I then applied a coat of gesso to the entire board including the letters. I used an old gift card to create some interesting texture on the cork board background after applying a thicker second coat of gesso. Next I mixed several colors of acrylic paint until I achieved my desired color, and then I added a little bit of gloss medium and water to create a glaze. I painted the entire board and each letter with the paint glaze, let it set for about 30 seconds, and then I gently rubbed it off with a paper towel. The result was a sort of stonewashed effect and I loved it! I also rubbed a paper towel around the edges of the painted letters and this gave them a slightly sanded look. To decorate the trim of the cork board I embossed metal repair tape, adhered it to the edges, and then colored it with alcohol inks. I also used my fingers to rub a little of the alcohol ink into the outer edges of the cork board. To complete the project, I added a beautiful butterfly transparency, some three dimensional embellishments like flowers, pearls, and felt shapes, and then I added some sparkly glitter glue to various areas on the board.

Inspire

Inspire 2

Inspire 3

Inspire 4

Products used:
Letters (Wooden Letters)
Gesso (Liquitex)
Paints (Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line)
Multi Medium Gloss (Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line)
Alcohol Ink (Ranger)
Metal Tape (Lowes)
Transparency (Heidi Swapp)
Pearl Stickers (Basic Grey)
Flowers (Prima)
Pearl Pin (Maya Road)
Glitter Glue (Ranger: Stickles)
Felt Shapes (Fancy Pants)

I enjoyed working with the wooden letters and would love to create more projects with them in the future. The fact that they were already sanded meant I could get started decorating right away and I really liked that. The pine plywood is very light in color so it’s easy to cover or looks very pretty just as is. Being an 1/2″ in thickness meant that each wooden letter was very sturdy, yet they were relatively light in weight making them easy to hold. I feel like no matter how you decorate these letters, they are sure to be eye catching and would provide a uniquely stunning visual to any room. If you are looking for wooden letters to alter, create home decor with, or just make a statement, these are the wooden letters I would recommend!

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Wooden Letters