Baby on a Budget: How to turn cereal boxes into wall art (for next to nothing!)

This post is part of our Baby on a Budget series.  Click here for more from this series.

When women are pregnant, they tend to go through a "nesting" period. For most women, the insatiable need to nest kicks in towards the end of their pregnancy (the last month or so?).  I think I started nesting as soon as I started actually eating real food again, somewhere towards the beginning of my second trimester.  I would lie awake in bed for hours, stressing about the baby's room.  At the time, we were in a tiny 550 square-foot 2-bedroom apartment. The baby's-room-to-be was where we stored a lot of our junk. I knew we wouldn't need to put a baby in there for a while (heck, she's four months old and she still sleeps in our room), but the whole thing just sent me into a tizzy. I needed a plan. I needed to be ready. I needed a cute, happy, decluttered room where I could sit in and smile instead of stare and sob.  And oh, I needed to do it as cheaply as possible.

So I started planning. And pinning, And pining.

I wanted to spell out my daughter's name on the wall with 3D letters but with a long name like Elizabeth it would have been expensive (at least for my tight budget).  Instead, I figured out a way to make letters for next to nothing. Out of cereal boxes of all things.

I didn't take many pictures when I made letters for my daughter's room but I made sure to snap along as I made letters for my nephews later.

You will need:

• Cereal boxes (1-2 per letter)
• Ruler
• Exacto knife/scissors
• Cutting board/mat
• Pencil 
• Newsprint (I used all the pesky ads we normally just recycle)
• Flour
• Water
• Sandpaper
• Paint 
• Foam paintbrush
• Glue/tape
• Scrapbook paper, buttons, fabric, etc (etc = whatever else you can think of to decorate your letters!)

    

Step 1: Start hoarding cereal boxes. Lots of boxes.  I probably used one or two boxes per letter.  I also used boxes from frozen pizzas and cookies -- it just needs to be that thin, flexible cereal-box-type-cardboard.

Step 2: Find a font you like. You can use the fonts you already have installed on your computer or if you're feeling adventurous, it's pretty easy to find and install free fonts online.  For my nephews' letters I wanted a comic booky feel to the font so I just googled "free comic book font," found one I liked (Action Comcs Black), downloaded and installed it.  In Word (or you could use Microsoft Publisher), I blew each letter up as big as I could make it and have it still fit on one page (400 pt font size worked with this font), clicked print and the cut each letter out. For bigger letters you could also print them out over multiple pieces of paper and tape them together.  When you're done, your paper letters will act as a guide for cutting out your letters in cardboard.

I'm crafty-impaired so I like to use my ruler and exacto knife (with a cutting board underneath) to cut out my letters.  It helps make sure I keep my lines nice and straight

***insider tip*** 

If you want to make things easier on yourself use a sans serif font. For my daughter's letters I used a pretty font with a serif. It was a little tricky getting everything lined up correctly. My nephews' letters with a sans serif font were a lot easier to line up and keep straight without all the little extra "bumps" around the edges. I recommend taking some time to study your font to make sure it isn't too complicated before you get started.

Step 3: Cut out your cardboard. Using a few pieces of tape, secure your letter guides to the cereal box. Using a pencil, you can either trace around the letter and then cut it out or if you're lazy like me, just use your exacto knife to cut along the side of your paper guide.  Again, I like to cut against my ruler to make sure my cuts stay straight. Once you've finished cutting the letter out, peel off the paper guide and repeat, making a front and a back for each letter.

Make sure you cut out a front and a back for each letter!

Step 4: Next, cut 2-3 inch strips (depending on how thick you want your letters) out of your cereal box.  I'm a lazy crafter so I just used the width of my ruler as a guide to make it easier on myself.

Step 5: Construction time! Using tape, secure your strips between the top and bottom parts of your letter.  Make sure to shape the strips around any curves or angles.  If your letter has holes on the inside (like with a B or an A) make sure to line those parts first. When you're done, it should look something like this!

Step 6: Paper Maché.  Cut (or just tear) your newsprint into strips (approximately 1-inch wide but you don't need to be exact).  Mix up some homemade paste by combining about one cup of flour with one cup of water (you can add a few shakes of salt, too).  Next, dip your newspaper strips into the paste, wipe off excess paste and adhere to your letter.  Continuing doing this until you've covered the entire letter, front, back and sides. 

Let your letter dry completely and then repeat the process, paper machéing the entire letter again.  I'd stick my letters in front of a fan (so they'd dry faster!) and then I'd get to work cutting out and taping together my next letter while I waited.

Step 7: Sand.  Once both layers of paper maché are completely dry use a piece of fine sandpaper to sand down some of the rough patches.  This just helps make it a little bit more smooth.

Step 8: Apply a couple coats of paint. I just used some white paint I had kicking around from another project

Step 9: Decorate.  Trace the front face of your letter on a sheet of scrapbook paper you like, cut it out and attach!  I just used masking tape to attach mine and it's held just fine.  You could also get out the big guns and actually glue (hot glue?) the covers on if you want something more robust than tape. Instead of using scrapbook paper you could use buttons, fabric, glitter, lace, pebbles, feathers, heck I even thought about using old comic books.

 And voila!  You've made cute wall art for practically nothing!

***This post contains affiliate links. I make a small profit when you buy products from these links at no additional cost to you.***