Wall Art: Decoupage Letters

With February coming to an end and the wait for spring to begin, some of us crafters might be finding ourselves in a bit of an idea slump! 

However, this is a perfect time to work on some projects that take a little more time, and this decoupage wall letter might just be the answer to your “what can I make this week” question!

Wall Art: Decoupage Letter

• Supplies Needed
• Digital Products
• Cricut Design Spac
  • Creating the Letter
  • Cutting
• Letters
  • Cutting the Paper
  • Painting the edges
  • Decoupage!
• Finishing

Supplies Needed

• Chipboard
• Digital Products: Seamless Pattern, Digital Paper Design and/or Pink Peonies, 12 Seamless Texture Font: Lathishine (optional)
• Craft knife or scissors 
• Acrylic or chalk paints (complementary colors)
• Mod Podge
• Sharpie paint pens or other metallic paint (optional)
• Paintbrushes and/or foam brush
• Embellishments (gems, rhinestones, etc…optional)
• Cricut cutting machine (or another brand)
• Cricut knife blade
• Masking tape

Digital Products

Before jumping into your crafting session, head on over to Creative Fabrica and do a search for “Digital Paper” to find a product that you like. I used the Seamless Pattern, Digital Paper Design because I wanted something a little more bold and vibrant so that it really pops against a white wall.

All of the designs in this bundle are so eye-catching, and they all seem to coordinate well together in case you want to do a little mix and match, or even if you want to create a full word! 

As I made two decoupaged letters, I also chose to use the Pink Peonies, 12 Seamless Texture. I wanted to gift these initials to both my mom and mother-in-law for their apartment doors and my mom just loves shabby chic – so this bundle is perfect for her initial!

Whichever digital paper bundle you prefer, download and extract the file. Print your paper out, keeping in mind that you may need to print off multiple copies depending on the size you plan to make your chipboard letters.

• 🎨 Crafting Tip: You can spray a light coating of acrylic sealer over the printouts so that your ink will not smudge when you apply the glue.

Open up Design Space to work on the initials while your digital paper is drying.

Cricut Design Space

Creating the Letter

With your new canvas now opened, insert a text field and type out the letter that you want to make. As I am making two letters, I created two separate text fields.

If you wish to create a full word, instead of inserting a field for each letter, you can save some time by typing out the full word, then simply click on “ungroup”. Alternatively, you can create a fully connected word as well, but just make sure that you weld your letters so that they don’t cut separately.

• 👉 Tip: If you find an area of your letter that you think might be difficult to cut or decoupage, you can insert a shape and weld it away!

To add a little extra pizazz to the initials, I highly recommend that you make use of the glyphs if your chosen font has them. To do this, just open up the Character Map and change the group to “Unicode Subrange”, then in the pop-up menu select “Private Use Characters”.

I decided to use the Lathishine font, again, from Creative Fabrica. I love that you can get the pretty swirls on a letter that are not too delicate and thin – perfect for a chipboard cut. Whichever font you decide to use, keep in mind that the thinner the structure of the character is, the harder it will be to cut!

All you need to do now is size the letter (or letters) to your liking. As my initials are intended for an apartment door, I sized mine to roughly 10” wide. The sizing will vary depending on where you are planning to place them.

Now you can then get ready to cut!

Cutting

Click on that Make It button and on the next screen, ensure that you have a mat that is large enough for your initials. Click on Continue and choose “Chipboard” as your material setting.

Choose the appropriate thickness and, before you cut, use some masking tape to secure the chipboard to your mat.

If you are using the 2mm thick chipboard as I am, the machine will make 24 passes to ensure that the cut reaches all the way through. If at any time during the cutting process you notice too much lifting on some areas, simply wait for the area to be accessible and quickly place an additional piece of tape over the raised area. Don’t worry! The machine will just cut through the tape! Just make sure you don’t place the tape when the area is too close to the knife blade…ouch! 🩹

When the Cricut has completed the cycle, carefully remove the masking tape and the excess chipboard, then move over to your decoupage station!

Letters

Cutting the Paper

The easiest way to cut the paper (and fastest in my opinion) is to place the letter on your sheets of paper – mirrored – and using a craft knife (or pencil to trace) cut around the entire outline. Alternatively, you can cut or rip small pieces of paper to create a more “crafted” look.

Painting the Edges

To add a little extra to the project, you can paint the chipboard letter. This helps to give a more finished look to the end result.

You don’t really need to paint the back, but make sure that you evenly coat the sides so that as it hangs on the wall you don’t see any brown color from the chipboard.

Let the paint fully dry before moving on to the next steps.

Decoupage!

• 🔔 Getting Started: It’s important to gently roll the bottle of Mod Podge on the table to mix it up…don’t shake it! You don’t want to create a jar full of air bubbles in your glue.

When you are ready, line up your paper on the painted letter and start applying glue with your paintbrush.

Make sure the entire front side of the letter is covered with your paper. Allow to dry for at least an hour, and then you can clean up the edges using your craft knife.

To give the initial an even more finished look, you can add some metallic paint to outline the edges. To make it even easier, use a Sharpie paint pen!

With everything now dry and ready to go, it’s time to add your topcoats! 

Dip a foam brush (or paintbrush) into the Mod Podge and completely coat the entire letter in an even coat. Make sure to get the sides covered as well. 

When this first coat is dry, flip it over and give the back a coating as well – this is even more important if you painted the back.

Let it completely dry and then add a second coat, repeating the same steps as above.

Once again, allow everything to dry, this time for at least six to eight hours.

Finishing

Now that your letter is fully dry, at this point you can opt to add on some gems, rhinestones, ribbons, or just about anything else to your project! If you do add on some small gems, I highly recommend sealing with one final coat after the glue for the embellishments has dried. This will help to protect your artwork from losing any of those sparkly gemstones!

That’s it! Just add on a little double-sided tape and hang up your new letter for all to see!

Don’t forget to check out some of my other articles over at The Artistry for more crafting ideas.

Keep on Crafting! 💖