What's in a Name?

...how about some scrapbook paper, a little Mod Podge, some discounted wooden letters, and a little help from Hobby Lobby?

After we got confirmation that we were in fact having another sweet little girl, I've wasted no time getting the nursery together.  It's coming along, a piece at a time, all getting piled up on the existing antique furniture in that room...more on that one day when we redo the guest bedroom.  While I'm sporting this second trimester energy, we're doing a lot of work on the house (hence the Paint Party posts seen here and here, to be continued once I get the living room pulled together).

But I did have time for a quick, easy, and fun project this week just for baby Riley.  Several years ago, I made these letters for Alli's room using cute patterned scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, and wooden letters from Hob Lob.

I knew I wanted to do something similar for Riley, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted it to look.  Did I just want to do a giant letter "R"?  Did I want to order something from my new favorite website Etsy?  But after some debate, I decided I wanted to style my own to a tee, and I wanted them to be pretty similar to Alli's.  So out I set for Hobby Lobby.

I used to go to this store three times a week when I was decorating our old house, but I got tired of the same ol' same ol', and they just weren't as modern and chic as I wanted when my style evolved.  Man, have things changed!  I was snapping inspiration left and right.

Clearly I need to spend more time and money in here!  So anyway, I found what I was looking for with the letters, but I could not decide on the paper to use.  I had five different patterns picked out, really similar to Alli's, but I just didn't like what I had.  I picked Alli's out after the rest of her room was done at the time, so it was easy to see which colors worked and which didn't.  Determined not to be deterred, I finally settled on a baby pink polka dot paper, and I decided to use the same paper on every letter.

The process is really easy - you trace the letter on the back of the paper and cut it out.  Then you apply a little Mod Podge to the letter itself using a small paintbrush and stick the paper on, smoothing as you go.  I used a pan scraper we have to help it get really smooth.  I let everything completely dry overnight, then applied several coats of Mod Podge on top the next day.

Here's a sneak peak at the results - you'll see the full thing in Riley's nursery reveal in a few weeks.