D-I-Y Wooden Letter Ornament

I always like to give my siblings a little something for Christmas, and when I saw a picture of these wooden letter ornaments on Pinterest, I thought they were perfect. Of course, I didn't bother to trace the Pin back to a source with directions (but you can see it here), I just looked at it and thought "I can do that".


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Basically, it's wooden letter from a craft store that has been covered with scrapbook paper. Add a hook and a ribbon, and it's an ornament. Sounds easy, right? Well, yes and no. I'll share what I learned with you...

Tip #1: Try to find a letter that is exactly the same both front and back - it makes it much easier to trace and cut the paper to fit.

Here's what you'll need:

• wooden letters from craft store; you can use any size, just remember you'll need to be able to trace it and cut out two copies
• Mod Podge; whatever finish you want - I used gloss
• brush to apply Mod Podge
• scrapbook paper
• small screw-in hooks for hanging
• drill with small bit
• ribbon, twine, or string for hanging
• optional: scrapbook paper for tag, punch to cut out tag, ribbon/string to attach
• optional: paint or stain for letter edges

Okay, we're ready to start!!

Tip #2: If you don't want bare wood showing around the edges, sand them and apply either paint or stain before doing anything else.


I happened to have some of this stain, so I just dabbed it onto an old microfiber cloth and rubbed it on the edges of the letters. Remember, it doesn't matter if you get it on the front or back of the letter because you'll be covering it with paper.


Trace letters onto scrapbook paper (keep in mind that you want the printed side to show on the letter, so trace accordingly) and cut out. Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to one side of the letter, then apply the paper cut-out. Make sure to remove any air bubbles. Once it's dry, repeat for the other side of the letter.


Apply 1-2 coats of Mod Podge over the paper. For those who need explicit instructions (as I sometimes do), do one side, let it dry, then do the other side. :-) You can also apply Mod Podge to the edges if you want.


Use a drill to start a hole for the tiny hooks. (I tried to screw them in without a starter hole, but it didn't work. My hooks were tiny, so an awl was too big - I had to use a tiny drill bit.) Attach the hooks.


I wanted to put tags on mine, so I worked on those next. First, I cut a sheet of scrapbook paper to fit in my printer, then I used Microsoft Word & Photoshop to create the images that I wanted on the tags. (the font I used for the names was Things We Said, "the" was KG Be Still & Know, "family" was Janda Elegant Handwriting)


I used a 1" circular punch to cut out the tags...


I left a little extra space at the top so that I could punch a hole for the ribbon.


I used a 1.5" scalloped circle punch to make a slightly bigger tag to go behind the name tag. Since the paper was one-sided, I actually cut two scalloped circles for each tag and glued them together, back-to-back, so the print was on both side. Then I glued the name tag to the scalloped circle.

Next, I punched a hole for the ribbon, and tied a bow...



Since I was giving the neighbors a bottle of homemade raspberry vodka, too, I just hung their ornaments on the bottles.




I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. I think these are cute for Christmas, but they would also be cute on kids' birthday gifts, baby/shower gifts, or even for a bridal shower!