Scrabble Tiles

This week I made a wall hanging made of scrabble tiles that spelled out all the names of my family members. Me, my husband, and two boys. This is a project that I have been wanting to do for a while.  So staying home during Covid-19 made it happen. It was pretty simple to do and didn't take a lot of time. Most of my time was deciding where (and how to hang it).

Like most of my projects, I used my Cricut but this is one that you don't really need to if you decide to hand paint your letters instead. You can simply print the letters on paper, trace them, and then paint them by hand.

Supplies

• 1x6 board.  I purchased a 8ft board for under $5 which was the perfect size I needed (17 squares)
• Saw
• Stain
• Vinyl letters cut from Cricut (optional) or you can draw and paint the letters yourself
• Picture hangers

Total Price = $5 to $10 depending on how many letters you need and how you make the letters.

Instructions

The first thing you have to do is figure out how you will position the names. Play around with it on a piece of paper until you get them all to connect together in a configuration you like. This will determine how many squares you will need. Once satisfied, count the number of letters you will use.

Once you understand how many letters you need, you can determine how much 1x6 wood you require. It is important to know that a 1x6 is actually 5.5 inches wide.  Therefore, you will be cutting the board every 5.5" to get a perfect square. An 8ft board is 96" and that allowed me to cut 17 squares from it. PERFECT for what I needed!

 

After cutting the boards, lightly sand them to remove any rough edges. 

Then stain or paint them based on what you like.  I decided to keep the wood look of scrabble tiles and used stain. Plus I find staining easier and faster. But I really like the look of painted ones too. Especially distressed white. Look around Pinterest to get ideas.

Allow them to dry completely while you get your letters ready.

Now you need to decide how you will do your letters. If you are going to cut them with vinyl like I did, I used the text feature in my Cricut and made then 4" tall from the top of the letter to the bottom of the number. If you don't have a Cricut (or Silhouette) you can print the letters, cut them out, and create stencils to outline with pencil; and then paint them by hand.  One website to find templates is here (and to help figure out the points).

I didn't take any pictures of me putting on the letters. I suck. Because, honestly, its one of the most important steps. They need to be centered and all the same so they look level together. I figured that since the letters were 4" tall, that leaves 1.5" of wood (or 3/4 inch at the top and bottom). So I drew a light line 3/4" from the bottom of each square and then lined up the bottom of the number on that and centered it as best I could with my eye.

I think I did OK. When I put it together, you really can't see the slight differences. Ah-hem.  The "J".  Ugh. If you have more patience than me, you could probably get it perfect.

Now to hang it. There are plenty of ways to do it and you should do it the way that best works for you. But for me? I didn't want to put 17 holes in my wall and spend hours making sure each square was level. So I got very thin pieces of wood and nailed the letters to that. That made it one solid piece and I only put a couple holes in the wall to hang it from the top.  Again, I forgot to take a picture of the back before I hung it because I suck.  But this Pin can help you visualize it. It is very similar to what I did.

Here was the end result. If I had to do it over again, I would have used white/off-white letters but I didn't have enough vinyl and I was too impatient to order some online and wait for it to be mailed since I wasn't going to the store during the "safe a home" order. 

Or I would have painted over this - using the vinyl as stencil and then peeling it off to reveal the wood underneath - but I hate wasting vinyl! I still might do that. If I do, I will update the blog!

Have you done this? Show me yours in the comments!