DIY Nordstrom Inspired Oversized Scrabble Letters

First of all, what inspired this for Lexi's bedroom 

was when I saw them being displayed in Nordstroms kid section as "wall art" 

sometime back in September.. 

I browsed online to get the basic know-how 

of how to recreate this look and this is what we came up with! 

Supplies you need:

I decided to take this little project to our local Wood Supply store 

and have them size down and cut the wood for me:

What you need to tell them:

You need 1, 1x8 Pine Wood board -cut into 4- 7.25x7.25 squares.

if you can go with them to check out the board,

 make sure to grab a board with as little knots as possible

-or ask them to try to avoid using knots for your squares.

they will give you the remainder of your board as scraps.

cutting charge: $3.00

Sanding Sheet: $1.99

Exacto Knife, Painter Tape, Black Paint Pen

  

step 1:
sand the edges to make them have a soft round edge.
Don't focus on making it all even, the inconsistency will add character.

step 2:
print out the stencils below- then use painters tape to align them on the board.
Painters Tape won't leave sticky residue behind.

step 3:
use an exacto knife and trace the letter as you see it on your stencil.
(when you get to P & A -do the center of the openings first)

step 4:
use a black paint pen to color in the letters & numbers-
be careful to watch where you "paint"
- because the paint will bleed out on certain directions of wood.
The line you engrave with the exacto knife,
will help tons on making a barrier for the paint to not bleed out.
I mainly just ran into the paint bleeding when i got to my numbers.

Inspiration drew from here - with tweaks to fit our setup.

I went ahead and made you a cleaner version printable

of what I originally used for my 7.25x7.25 scrabble letter stencils.

If you would like to make your scrabble letters in the size I made
(appropriate shelf size 7.25x7.25)
then go ahead and grab these FREE printables:
Click on image- Right Click- Save Image As- then save to your desktop,
Then print them on your home computer- on a 8.5x11 sheet (your normal size)!
If you are wanting to do this process yourself for another size scrabble letter or saying
(I debated about going with "PLAY" or "READ" and kept with play)
I used this font to help make my print out-
Although i did a lot of altering in photoshop sizing them
& getting them to align correctly with one another.

I also decided to have my husband put together this shelf for me-
which made for a nice little "scrabble tile rack" look.

I used this tutorials direction on what sizes I needed cut and then stained it in Walnut
I had our local wood store cut them the same time I did the scrabble letters wood
and the entire cost for the Shelf & Scrabble Letters
wood, sanding sheet, nails, & cutting charge:
only cost $20!

this did not include:
black paint pen & stain
I already had the stain & paint pen you can snag for around 2 bucks

SUPER CUTE & CHEAP STATEMENT PIECE IF YOU ASK ME :)