DIY letter art — an easy way to add a whimsical touch to your nursery

Does the wall in your nursery look a little sad? Maybe it could do with a bit of embellishment?

For some fun letter art, all you need is a bit of cardboard, yarn, a glue gun, scissors and twine. Simply pick a word — your baby’s name or a word like “sleep,” “dream” or “baby” — and get started.

Supplies:

• Pencil
• Scissors
• Cardboard
• White paint
• Paintbrush
• Wool yarn (I used a matte-finish, loopy variety)
• Glue gun
• Cardboard roll
• Twine
• Fabric dye — optional
• A word processor and printer — optional
• Craft knife — optional

Directions:

Step 1: Dye the yarn

If you choose to dye the wool, do this well before you begin the craft in order to allow the dye to set and for the yarn to be washed and to dry.

I chose to dye the yarn because I wanted to achieve a specific dyed look; however, you can just as easily buy different colours of the same yarn and spare yourself the trouble.

Step 2: Print and cut a letter template

In your word processor, select a font that you like and write out the word you’re going to create. Sans-serif fonts with smooth, easy lines work best. Increase the size of each letter until it is the size you like — I used 650-point text because I wanted my nursery letter art to be quite large, but you can make yours smaller.

Print the letters and cut them out.

Tip: The larger the font, the easier it will be to execute. The smaller the font, the more fiddly it will become.

Alternatively, you can skip this step and draw the letters by hand.

Then, using your letter printout or calligraphy skills, draw or trace the letters onto the cardboard.

More:DIY adorable tree branch clothing rod for your baby’s nursery

Step 3: Cut out the letters

Using scissors or a craft knife (or both), cut out the letters from the cardboard. Try to make them as flawless as possible, but don’t worry too much if the edges turn out rough because these will be covered by the yarn anyway.

Step 4: Paint the letters

Paint the letters and allow them to dry.

Step 5: Glue the yarn

Decide on which colours you’d like to work with and how you’d like to use them — in even or uneven sections, for example — then cut the yarn. Even if you’re just planning on working with one colour, cut the yarn into 10-15-centimetre pieces to make it easier to work with and glue.

Then, starting on the back of your letter, stick the tip of your yarn with the hot glue gun. Once this has hardened, carefully wrap the yarn around the letter, keeping it tight so that no gaps show. Then, stick the end of the piece to the back of the letter using the hot glue gun.

Step 6: Repeat

Repeat Step 6 with the rest of the yarn, alternating colours as you see fit. Use more hot glue when working around tricky areas, like corners and ends, until your letter is completely covered in yarn. At this stage, you can also plug up any gaps with the help of the hot glue gun by helping to better place the yarn you’ve wrapped or by using little scraps of yarn as fillers.

More:7 Gorgeous baby crafts that double as nursery decor

Step 7: Complete all of the letters

Repeat the process with the remaining letters.

Step 8: Thread the cardboard roll

Thread a long piece of twine through the centre of a cardboard roll. Then, bring the sides up on either end and tie them so they form a triangle with the roll as the base.

Step 9: Glue the letters

Using the hot glue gun, glue a piece of twine to each of the letters. Each piece of twine should be double the length you want to achieve between the cardboard roll and the letter.

Step 10: Measure and glue the twine

Tie the other end of the letter twine around the cardboard roll. Once all of the letters are hanging from the cardboard roll, adjust them to get them in line and then secure their position by sticking the twine to the cardboard roll using the hot glue gun.

More:Make your own cut-out canvas wall art

Step 11: Wrap the roll

Using the same method as for the letters, glue the tip of the yarn to the back of the cardboard roll and wrap it around until you reach the end. You can do this in stages, gluing the tip and end of each piece and working piece by piece, or, alternatively, doing it in one go.

And that’s it!

Then you just have to hang it and enjoy the view!