holiday diy

NOEL Wall Art - PB Catalog

After seeing the NOEL Wall Art from Pottery Barn this fall, I decided that I wanted to whip up something similar...now, it wasn't going to be as nice as the PB one - just loved the one piece and hammered look finish - but I figured I must be able to come up with something similar.

I started with these letters from mpiwood.com. At $1.99 a piece, this was going to be a bargain DIY (compared to PB's $149)! I didn't take any photos in-process but esentially I laid out the letters and glued them together in the same formation as the wall art. The gluing part was a bit of a pain (I used Gorilla Glue and next time would try something else?) and I also had to secure the letters with a little more support on the back side so that I could pick it up in one piece and have it be somewhat sturdy. (I ended up just using some popsicle sticks - glued to the back attaching the leg of the N to the E, the top of the E to the top of the L, etc. - I said it was a bargain DIY!) Then I painted it red with some acrylic paint I had already laying around, let it dry, and then propped it on the mantel for an inexpensive holiday decoration. It's totally plain and I'll probably jazz it up for next year (maybe repaint it and/or do a distressed or crackle finish?) but for now, it'll totally do in a pinch.

Not too bad for approximately $10-12!!
What do you think?