3 Easy DIY projects to personalize your nursery

Make your little one’s nursery stand out from the crowd with a little mommy-powered-DIY. Craft one of these quick, inexpensive crafts during your baby’s next nap time to add a personal touch to their space. They will surely love – and appreciate- a little mommy-made decor!

Supplies needed:

• vintage dictionary pages
• computer with printer that can accommodate custom paper sizes
• scissors or paper cutter
• Mod Podge
• one 2-foot x 2-foot x 8-foot wood piece, cut into 1.5-inch blocks (Lowe’s will cut wood purchased there to your dimensions for free)
• paint
• paint brush

Directions

To create your letter blocks, first you’ll need to print out your letters on the dictionary pages. The font shown is called Sketch block.

Since not all printers are the same, you’ll need to refer to your printer manual to set up your printer to print on non-standard size paper. Type out your name in a word processing program leaving plenty of room in between the letters to allow for cutting. Size your letters so that they fit within a 1.25-inch x 1.25-inch square. Print out your letters; trim a block around each letter that measures approximately 1.25-inch x 1.25-inch, as shown.

You will need 5 additional plain dictionary squares per block to cover all sides -you don’t really need to cover the bottom as it won’t show, in which case you only need 4 additional squares per block. Using additional pages as needed, cut out your remaining squares.

Make sure that your blocks are smooth and clean. Paint the blocks using acrylic craft paint and allow to dry completely.

Once the paint is completely dry, adhere your squares to each block using a thin coat of Mod Podge applied with a paint brush. Once the undercoat is dry, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to all sides of the block to seal the paper. Allow Mod Podge to dry overnight. The blocks are for decorative purposes only and, when made as directed, they should never be used as a toy.

Supplies needed:

• corrugated cardboard/4 small moving boxes
• craft glue
• clamps
• serrated knife
• exacto knife and straight edge
• 1-inch wide fabric strips
• rolled batting
• hot glue & glue gun
• double sided tape

Directions:

To begin, cut out equally sized squares from your moving boxes. The flaps are great to cut off and use. Once you have cut off the flaps of 4 moving boxes, stack each of the same sized pieces together in stacks of 4-high. Apply a thin coat to the top of each piece, and glue together each stack. You will need to either clamp these together or weigh them with heavy books while they dry so that they don’t curl.

Once the glue is completely dry, trace out your letters onto the cardboard. The font shown is called College. Using a serrated or exacto knife and straight edge, carefully cut through each layer until your letter is completely cut out. You may need to sand the edge of the cardboard when you are done cutting to get a smooth edge.

Now, cover your letter in a thin layer of rolled batting, as shown, using hot glue to secure the edges on the back.

Finally, using 1″ fabric strips, wrap your letters using hot glue to secure the edges to the back. Wrap and overlap your fabric until all raw edges of the letter are covered in fabric strips. Use double sided tape to hang to a wall.

Supplies needed:

• one 6-inch embroidery hoop
• one 9-inch embroidery hoop
• 12 lamp crystals
• 16-inch crystal lamp chain, in 4″ segments
• pliers
• eight 5-millimeter jump rings
• ribbon
• fabric scraps
• polyester stuffing
• hot glue and glue gun
• marking pen and cardstock
• sewing machine and thread

Directions:

First, measure, mark and drill 4 small holes in the 6″ hoop, five inches apart. Then drill 12 holes in the 9″ hoop, two inches apart.

Next, make your hearts. Create a heart pattern on a piece of cardstock measuring approximately 3″ tall x 4″ wide. Fold your fabric in half, trace and cut out 12 hearts.

Sew each heart, right sides together, along the traced line, leaving a 1″ gap for stuffing/turning. Trim the hearts, clipping the corners.

Turn right side out and press. Fill with polyester stuffing, and hand sew the opening closed. Attach ribbons of varying lengths – 12-18″ -to the middle of the hearts, as shown.

Now, attach the two hoops together using jump rings and the crystal chandelier chain. Line up four of the holes in the small and large hoop, and attach the ends of each 4-crystal-long chain to each jump ring using pliers.

In the empty holes along the bottom hoop, insert the wire of the chandelier crystals. You may need to glue these in place.

Now wrap the ribbon that is attached to the hearts around the smaller hoop, as shown, and glue each hanging heart in place. To create the hanger, knot 4- 9″ pieces of ribbon together, and glue each end 5″ apart from each other.

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