My husband and I currently have five nieces and nephews. Three of which were sent to Dayton Children’s Hospital immediately following birth, due to different complications. Our newest nephew was born this past week, and has been in the NICU department of Children’s Hospital ever since.
It has been so difficult watching him struggle, but we thank God for the little improvements that give us hope. I don’t know where we would be without that hospital. They have made such a great impact on not only my life, but the lives of those I care about.
My husband and I like to give gifts to our nieces and nephews, especially to celebrate their birth. The following is a project I completed for my oldest nephew many years before. I hope you enjoy it!
When I found out the name that my brother and his wife chose for their newborn son, I knew that I wanted to incorporate that in a wall décor project that I was working on as a gift. I was told that they wanted classic Disney as the theme of their nursery. I began searching online for an idea, and found the cutest thing ever!
You take the letters of the name, and decorate them to look like different Disney characters. After being inspired by this awesome idea, I set into creating this very cool wall decoration for them.
First I went to the Goodwill. I found a wooden board pretty cheap that looked long enough to fit the name on it. The name “Jonathon” was already on it in wooden blocks. When I got the board home I used a putty knife and pried off the letters already on the board.
After doing this I just used the putty knife to scrape off anything remaining on the board. You could sand it if you want, but I was lazy..lol…
Then I cleaned it, and painted the board white. I did two white layers, but still the design showed underneath. So then I painted it black, and once that dried I did two more white layers. Finally, the design was mostly covered. If I had done a few black layers I think it would have been better, but oh well. It looked awesome anyways!
Then I began working on the letters. I used the medium weight chipboard that I had used for a Mickey Mouse canvas project.
My X-Acto knife was not strong enough to cut through the chipboard, but did provide me with a nice outline to cut out with scissors.
After my letters were cut out I began painting.
I wanted the first letter, W, to be Mickey Mouse. So I painted the bottom of the W red, and the top of it black. When that dried I painted the very bottom (just a strip of it) yellow for the shoes. When all of that was dry I took one of the New Year’s Eve squawkers (or party horn, however you say it) and dipped it in white paint. I then placed the circle end covered in paint on the two far tops of the red “pants” on the W. This was the buttons for his pants. After the paint had dried I took two black mouse ears that I printed off of the internet and cut them out, using Mod Podge to glue them to the two top corners of the W for his ears. I used Mod Podge to seal the entire thing when it was done drying. It looked so cute finished! The W actually looked like Mickey Mouse!
Then I wanted the E to be Minnie Mouse. I suppose color wise, to break things up, I could have made Minnie be a different letter, but I like to keep couples together..lol…So I painted the bottom half of the E red, and the top half black, just like Mickey Mouse. Then I painted the bottom strip of the E yellow for the shoes. I used the same party horn, dipped in white paint, and made circles all over Minnie’s skirt. After all of the glue was dry I took two more black printed ears that I found online and used Mod Podge to glue them to the two top corners of the E, for Minnie’s ears. Then I took a printed red bow for Minnie that I found online and used Mod Podge to glue it to the middle of the E at the top, for her bow right between her ears. I finished the E with a nice finishing layer of Mod Podge to seal it all. She looked adorable!
My third letter that I did was S. S was going to be Donald Duck. I painted the top of the S blue, and the bottom of it white. When the paint was dry I painted two yellow diagonal lines in the center of the S to look like Donald’s shirt collar. When that dried I took a red bow that I had printed off the internet and used Mod Podge to glue it just below the yellow collar on the S. I then used Mod Podge to glue a blue hat that I printed off the internet to the top of Donald’s head. When all of that dried I Mod Podged everything to seal it. The final touch with the Donald S was the feathers that I bought at Walmart in the craft section. I used Gorilla Glue to glue them just under Donald’s hat. I am not going to lie, gluing feathers is awful! The glue and the feathers got everywhere..but Donald just would not have looked complete without the finishing touch that the feathers provided. I regret nothing!
Daisy was the easiest of all. I mixed together some darker purple paint that I had with some white to make a lighter shade of purple. I painted the L purple, and when it dried I Mod Podged her beautiful bow to the top of the L. Then I Mod Podged everything as a final sealant. When that was done drying I took some more white feathers, and used Gorilla Glue to glue them to the bottom of the L. When using the feathers on Daisy and Donald I had to trim them a bit when it was all done. The Gorilla Glue puffs up, and kind of pushed the feathers up a bit. It protects them and keeps them from coming off, but I had to trim them a bit after the glue had dried.
Goofy was next. I took the next E, and painted the bottom half blue, and the top half orange. Then I used Mod Podge to glue the goofy hat and ears that I had printed from the internet to the top of the E. I put the ears on the top corners, and the hat in the center. I finished it all with a nice layer of Mod Podge.
Pluto was the final letter. I painted the Y yellow, and then did a green stripe across the center for the collar. I printed a “Pluto” tag, and used Mod Podge to glue it just below the collar. Then I did a final layer of Mod Podge.
After every letter was complete I used Gorilla Glue to glue the letters to the board. I did the first letter a little higher, and the second a littler lower, alternating each letter’s height in that manner. I thought it added a nice and playful touch.
Overall I think the project turned out wonderful!
For this project you could do anything. You could make letters into Princesses, Star Wars characters, Doctor Who characters, Avenger characters, etc. The list goes on and on! This is so easy, and adds a nice touch to any room, nursery or otherwise. Just have fun and use your imagination. Anything is possible!
Have you ever made a gift for someone you love? Don’t forget to comment or reach out to me on:
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