Colorful wooden alphabet letters mobile (Part 1)

Are you looking for a fun and educational decoration for the kids' area? Look no further! You can make your own alphabet-letters mobile at home.

The letters were white to start with, but we painted over them with lots of colorful craft paints.

Materials

• wooden alphabet letters

• waxed paper

• optional: masking tape (to hold the corners of the waxed paper in place)

• optional: paper plates

• acrylic craft paints

• small paint brushes

• drill with 1/16 in. drill bit

• string

• optional: clear glitter craft paint

• optional: oil-based paint markers (for embellishments)

• optional: nail polish (for embellishments)

• optional: some more stuff, lol

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How-To

N. painting some letters pink, her favorite color!

When I went to get the wooden letters, I found some on clearance, but not all of the letters of the alphabet were there. So I bought the rest of the letters in a slightly larger size. I think the 2 different sizes will actually make the mobile look even cooler in the end :)

My youngest daughter and I started by painting over the plain white letters with colorful craft paints. We used waxed paper to cover the countertop and paper plates to paint on to minimize the mess. N. didn't paint for too long before she got interested in doing something (anything) else instead, lol. But she did help pick out colors for the other letters and my oldest daughter pitched in for a while too.

The letters took several coats of paints to cover with lots of drying time in-between. I set the letters on waxed paper to dry with the wet paint sides up, making sure to move them around a little occasionally so any extra wet paint wouldn't stick too much.

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2 different sizes of letters, all painted and decorated!

Once all of the letters were painted and completely dry, I added some decorative embellishments for extra variety. Here are a few ideas to try:

~coat letters with clear glitter paint

~paint edges with dark or contrasting nail polish

~add white dots or pink stripes (with oil-based paint markers)*

~color the edges with a silver paint marker

*Bonus tip: I learned recently that you can paint over acrylic paints with oil paints - no problem - but, painting over oil paints with acrylic paints doesn't usually work.

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This 1/16 in. drill bit was perfect for drilling tiny holes.

I got the drill out and found a very tiny drill bit, only to realize that the battery for the drill wasn't charged! Since I had to leave the battery plugged in for a while anyway, I figured, "Hey, I might as well go to sleep for the night so I can recharge too."

Several days later...

I finally got back to the project. The drill was completely charged and this 1/16 in. drill bit worked perfectly for drilling the tiny holes into the larger letters.

I did NOT drill holes into the smaller letters though, since that would probably actually break the letters.

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Next up: attaching string to the letters and finishing the mobile.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this project (these contain affiliate links through which I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you). These are also great to have on hand to use for lots of different craft projects.

#DIY #crafts #AnnywayBoutique #mobiles #alphabet #letters #kids #decorations