Personalised Scrabble Art tutorial

Check out the adorable Scrabble Art I made for Martyn's sister and her boyfriend for their Christmas. They are moving into their very own house early this year so I made them something for it. These are super easy to make and not to expensive either!

All you need it;
A box frame,
Scrabble tiles 
Backing paper
Craft glue
Double sided sticky tape
Scissors
Bits and bobs

First things first you need to create your design, start with your 'topic' for me it was their New Pad but you could create ones for birthdays, anniversary's or new babies. Once you've decided on that you can add in the extra words or names. I had an easy one just incorporating Natalie and Michael into New Pad. You could use someones name and and put words that describe them through it.

Once your happy with your design move onto the frame. I used the Ikea Ribba frame, it's nice and deep and comes in a couple of colours. Grab your backing paper, it can be wrapping paper, decoupage, fabric or just plain paper. I used some beautiful hand made paper that I bought from Paperchase with a cream back ground and lovely gold pattern on it. Place your backing of choice, pattern down, on your work surface and take out the back section of the frame and pop it on your paper and drawer around it. Cut out your background and use the double sided sticky tape to attach it to the back of the frame, use plenty of it as you'll be sticking the tiles and bits and bobs onto it.

When you have it lined up and stuck to the back of your frame you should lay out you Scrabble tile design, you can pick up the tiles in most good haberdasheries. Begin sticking the tiles down using your craft glue starting at the middle and working your way out, that why the design should stay pretty central. Once they are all stuck down you can play with your bits and bobs, I had picked up a packet of felt keys, locks and blue birds that I arranged around the lettering. 

As you can tell I like things symmetrical.

Give your design a couple hours to dry before lifting it. When you feel the glue has done its job and everything is secure all you do is pop it back into the frame. I had a little trouble with this as I hadn't made the edging of my backing paper very neat but it should be easy. 

Ta dah! Beautiful handmade personalised gift for friends and family. 

DIY Notice Board

A couple weeks ago I popped my crafting hat on and made myself a notice board for the flat. We needed somewhere to put things like upcoming gig tickets, photo booth pictures and wedding invites etc. so they didn’t just pile up and eventually get lost. I’ve been wanting to make one for a while but couldn’t find a frame I liked for the price I wanted anywhere. One lunchtime I popped into one of the local charity shops and there is was, a lovely big frame in a pale turquoise, it had a pretty ugly oil painting in it and a few scuffs around it and was the bargain price of £4.99.

Once I got it home I pulled the tacks holding the canvas out at the back and took the old hanging string off too. I was thinking about sanding and repainting it but once I gave it a wee clean with some hot soapy water it looked fine. This is when the real crafting comes in.

For the notice board you will need…

One large frame.
Backing paper (Wrapping paper or posters are idea.)
Nice string or twine.
Staple gun. (Borrowed from my manager.) 
Teeny tiny pegs.

Once you have your frame in a state you are happy with have a play about with your string and decide what kind directions you’d like it to go in, I went with a simple diagonally across design. Once you are happy with what you like then grab that staple gun and attached the string at your top starting corner, leave a good 5 cm-7 cm tail. With that excess you should staple it to the back of the frame, fold it back over the staple and staple it down again (see photo below).

I found that the edge of my frame was going to be too thin to staple into because you’d see it come through on the front so I attached it to the adjacent side. Carry on that way down both sides of the frame making sure to keep the string taught and secure it at the bottom like you did at the top. 

Next you either want to cover the original picture, like me, or attached you backing paper to the frame. I used mini duckling tape by Duck Tape and some double sided tape. The paper I used was from Paperchase and is slightly larger than the frame, I'd recommend that you use nothing too jazzy as this will distract from what you put on your notice board. Once you've covered the picture you can reattach it to the frame, I just used the staple gun again for this (I really need my own one). 

Flip it around and you should have a pretty cool notice board. You can add extra decorations like my scrabble tiles that I got from local haberdashery Thread and Heather to spell out The Clubhouse, which is what we call the flat, or you could string some fairy lights over it or glue on some buttons. Once you are happy with it then hang it on your wall and add you favorite things with the tiny pegs.

Wish List Wednesday - Lucky Dip Club

Luck Dip Club takes you right back to the lucky dip bags that you would get at school fetes or the corner shop combined with the amazing feeling when you receive snail mail that isn't a bill or from Farmfoods and that is why it is this weeks Wish List Wednesday!

Once a month a new themed Lucky Dip box is launched. Themes have varied from Valley of the Unicorns to Magic Forrest and this months Sleep Over box. Each box is crammed with goodies like pretty handmade jewellery, kitch stationery, lovely homewares, paper goods and wee DIY craft kits. Each and every box comes with a personalised item and all the products are unique for the Lucky Dip Club boxes dream up by Leona, the bright spark behind it all, apart from one piece in each box where she invites creative makers, designers and illustrators to add excusive new designs for the boxes. The upcoming October box collaborator is Nikki McWilliams whose Tunnocks Tea Cake cushion I featured in Wish List Wednesday a few weeks back.

It all start in May 2014 with 100 boxes that sold out in a day, now over a year later she is making 1400 boxes a month (with a little help) that sell out in hours! There are two ways of of nabbing one of these beauties, you can buy a one off box or you can subscribe to a monthly box for slightly less and you can unsubscribe when every you want but you need to get in there quick. With so much packing to do hold Leona holds monthly Packing Parties with donuts & cocktails to pack the boxes in the Lucky Dip Clubhouse. You should really check out this ladies Instagram - she knows her donuts and cakes and marshmallows... Leona describes the Lucky Dip Club as 'A super fun confetti cannon of original surprises to inspire, encourage & celebrate your unicorn life!' Set your alarms for 7am on the 1st of October folks if you want to get your paws on the next box.