This post is part of the Bling on the Holidays Blog Hop and includes a Giveaway, the details are at the end of this post so make sure you check it out and enter to win a $150 Amazon Gift card.
I am so excited to share with y’all my DIY Christmas letter with a little bling. I had so much fun making them that I am trying to figure out a way to make a ton more for the rest of my house. Hahahaha okay maybe not for the whole house, everything in moderation right? At any rate I do have one more to work on but for now I wanted to share with you this gorgeous St. Nick piece I did.
I bought the letters and little Santa Pre cut, which is the best way to go if you don’t have a jig saw, and aren’t super handy with it even if you do have one. (Thats me in case you were wondering). The letters come as bare wood and need a bit of sanding. I sanded them down and then stained the sides and back of every letter. I would be putting paper over the front so I didn’t worry about staining that part just yet. I also ended up staining the whole letter “C” because I wanted one of the letters a bit more plain.
While the stain was drying I searched through my endless amounts of Christmas scrapbook paper (does any one else have ungodly amounts of scrapbook paper? Guilty as charged). After I picked out my paper I set to work coming up with my design plan. I really wanted the letters to have some glitter, or bling, but I also wanted them to fit in with the rest of my Vintage/Farmhouse Christmas decor. I also knew I wanted to add a bit of dimension to the letters so I pulled out some ribbon and floral picks that I had in my bins of craft supplies. I have a serious weakness for anything with Holly berries on it so I KNEW that this vintage stained paper was the perfect one for my S. I layed the S down on the paper. You want to make sure you are laying the letter down on the back of the paper to trace it so it doesn’t end up facing the wrong direction when you go to glue it, I’ve been guilty of that a few times myself, learn from my mistake young apprentice. I attached the paper with Mod Podge and waited a bit for it to dry then I sanded down the edges of the paper to make it flow with the edges of the letter better and blend in. Once I finished sanding and had the paper the way I wanted it I brushed a tiny bit of stain on the edges of the paper to give it a more vintage feel. Then I brushed the Mod Podge on the front of the letter as well to give it a protective coating . I added my ribbon and pick as the final touch. I did end up hot glueing them onto the letter so that gravity didnt become my nemesis, as they say, on my mantle.
I decided to do the whole entire letter T in green glitter. I thought it would be just the right amount of pop with out being too much. Since the “T” is the smallest letter I figure the bling wouldn’t over power the rest of the letters. I brushed on Mod Podge and sprinkled on the glitter. I had to do some touch ups in a few spots to make sure the whole front of the letter was covered. When the Mod Podge was dry I put some more on top of the glitter to help it stay in place a bit better.
I did the same thing to the N as I did to the S with the tracing and glueing but instead of staining the edges I left them a bit frayed from sanding. I love plaid Christmas decor so the paper and semi frayed edges worked out perfectly. I added some ribbon and some rusty bells to complete the “N”.
Santa as the “i” was a bit harder. His head, mustache and hat trim were separate pieces. I started with his body. I decided that I wanted to add some glitter and sparkle to every other letter but I didn’t want it to be as much as the “T”. I found a polka dot paper, traced and cut it out and glued it to the wood. I sanded the paper edges down and in a bit more then on the “N” to give the edges more of a white feel, and then I added a tiny bit of white paint to make it stand out more and then painted his gloves black. To make the paper glittery and mixed a little bit of glitter with the Mod Podge and brushed it on the front. After that I set to work on the face part of Santa. I thought Santa’s hat trim and beard would be the perfect place for some glitter. I painted his head white, and the hat part a deep red. I also painted his mustache and nose. I had a friend of mine do his face because of several practice attempts I resigned to the fact that my Santa face was scary.I added a bit of white glitter to his beard and some silver glitter to his hat trim. I edged out the beard and mustache in the same color as his face to make it stand out a bit more as well.
I had already stained the “C” so all I had to do was add the twine around it, glue it and I was done.
For the letter K, I simply traced, cut, glued and sanded the edges like I did with the rest of the letters. After I Mod Podged the front of the letter. I added some gold blingy glitter to a few of the snow flakes that were already gold as well as the polka dots. Then I hot glued my pick and ribbon on.
I really love the way they turned out and I can’t wait to decorate the rest of my mantle around them.
Now to get to work on my other Letters for the Holiday season. I love Christmas Crafts more then any other crafts of the whole year. How about you?
Now as promised I am sharing with you some other amazing bloggers that are part of our Bling on the Holidays blog hop and a chance to win a $150 Amazon Gift card to help out with the Holidays. Who doesn’t want that?
Be sure to go check out the other amazing bloggers and their “blingy” Christmas Craft projects, as part of this blog hop and enter to win. The contest will run until 12 am on 11/24.
Blog Hop List
P.S. I Love You Crafts – Our First Christmas Together Ornament
Anika’s DIY Life – LED Christmas Tree Wall Decor
My Pinterventures – Baking Soda Gingerbread Ornaments
Intelligent Domestications – Poinsettia Christmas Wreath
365 Days of Crafts – Handmade Christmas Cards
Love My Simple Home – Chicken Wire Christmas Tree
Day to Day Adventures – Glitter Letters for Christmas Decorations
Faeries and Fauna – Christmas Cushion and White Glitter Christmas Tree
Our Crafty Mom – Glittered Mason Jar Light
Knock It Off Kim – Holiday Napkin Rings
The Latina Next Door – DIY Christmas Ornament
You are here —–> Finding Your Joy in the Journey – Christmas Letters with a Little Bling
Craft Create Calm – Gingerbread House
DIY 180 Site – Vintage Christmas Bulb Wreath
The Inspirational Vault – Glittery Snowflake Decor
Make sure you head on over and visit everyones blog, comment and then come back and enter here —-> a Rafflecopter giveaway
Love how all the letters have their own unique touch!!
These are just adorable! Love the Santa!
This is really cute and different. I love the style of your letters. St Nick what a great idea.
This is adorable and I love how you used different patterns. It’s looks great displayed on your mantle. It’s great partying with you
I love holly berries, too, and these letters came out so cute they make me smile! I’d love to try this idea!
These are adorable, I really love the Santa!
Julie @ Love My Simple Home
LOVE this. I just happen to have the perfect scrapbook paper to do it. Pinned it and added to my list of perfectly possible projects.
i love your christmas letters!
Very creative and festive!
A simple, festive, and doable FYI. I especially like the “I” Santa.
Thanks for sharing this idea!
I can see myself doing this project
I like the vintage look!
so cute and festive! I like the rustic effect and that mis-matched but coordinated look. great job!
I love those–they’re really kind of a rustic decor! You did a good job!!
This is adorable and I love how you used different patterns. You always have the cutest craft ideas!!
Love the cool bling for the holidays
Maria
I really love how each letter is a different craft on its own. They all go so well together, too. It’s hard to pick which one is my favorite, but I’m leaning towards the Santa.
Great way to use some of the many pages of Christmas paper that I have.
So cute and festive! And not too complicated either… I think I could actually manage this one. ;P Thanks for the inspiration!
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This is so cute and festive!
Definitely worth the effort!
they would work well in my decor
These are adorable, I really like the Santa!
The love the holly berries accent too. The Santa turned out really cute.
Love the Santa, with just learning how to craft I think I have discovered several things my daughter and I can do together. Thank you!
I love how they all turned out and the mantle is the perfect place for them. I need to do something with mine, it’s kinda hard since our flat screen is above our mantle, but I desperately need to come up with something.
I love crafting..this is so unique i got to try it
I like how each letter is different and pretty. I also like the Santa.
Love your decor, all different patterns are so neat!!
This is a really creative idea. The striped scrapbook paper is gives me a old country vibe. I like the s the most because I like floral prints.
Absolutely love it! So crafty!
What a nice idea for a mantel – I love it!
Such a beautiful handmade display! I like the creativity that went into each letter.
I love this! I like that the font used on the letters is different than other ones you see – did you buy them online? I’m going to do something like this – really cute & fun!
I bought the letters from Wood Creations
What a cute and creative idea, it’d be great to get the whole family in on it too!
I love this idea! These letters could be done to coordinate with any motif.
I especially love the Santa letter. How pretty! I like this a lot!
These are so nice. They would look great over my fireplace.
Love the Santa one the best and they all look great together!
Thats a lovely ornament. I like how it is personalized. It will be cherished!
I love how this looks like something you would get at a major department store!
This would make my mantle look so festive!!!
thanks for the opportunity
These letter look so great and look like such fun to make!
WOW. I wish I had the talent to do this awesome DIY craft stuff. The letters are so beautiful, especially the Santa!
This is very cute! I would try to create letters to write out “Merry”.
This is super cute, love that you did something different for each letter! I will admit, it took me a couple seconds to figure out what stnick was. 😛 Don’t worry, I figured out it’s st. nick and that’s super cute!
Such a cute idea – this would look great on my mantel.
These are fun Thank you.
What’s great about this is that it’s one of a kind; it looks wonderful & something special to put out on the mantle every year!
That is a fun craft to make to brighten up the holidays.
I love these letters with the bling. They are so festive.