Love letters

Craft with Resene, from the Australian Women's Weekly

Make words that have meaning to you and your family, or decorate a child’s room with their name for some handcrafted love.

Handcrafted love letters

What you'll need

Craft papier mâché letters
L, O, V, E.
Pencil and ruler
Craft knife
Florist foam
Hot glue and glue gun
Faux flowers and foliage

Resene paint brush and paint.
We used:
- Resene Soulful
- Resene Porsche
- Resene Paper Doll
- Resene Melting Moment

Instructions

Lay out the letters as they will be displayed. Using a pencil and ruler, rule angled lines on each letter where you plan to remove part of the letter’s top – approximately a third to a half should be ideal to fill with flowers (A). Use a craft knife to carefully cut along this line, then continue to cut along the inside edges to remove an entire piece of the top layer of the letter (B).

Note: This top piece you have removed will be used as a template for the shape of the florist foam (C).

What you will need
Supplies

Pic A
Pic A

Pic B
Pic B

Pic C
Pic C

The inside structure of the letter will now be revealed. Remove anything that is inside (B), so it can be easily filled with foam.
Lay the cut-out piece of lettering on top of the florist foam to use as a template. Use a craft knife to cut around it. Make the depth of the foam 1cm less than the depth of the papier mâché letter. Hot glue the foam into the letter (D).
Paint the letters, using two coats. Use different colours for each letter, choosing shades that work with your decor. We chose Resene Soulful, Resene Porsche, Resene Paper Doll and Resene Melting Moment. Allow to dry between coats (E).
Once the letters are dry, start adding foliage and flowers. Trim the stems so they are just long enough to poke into the foam. Fill each section, making sure there are no spaces visible. Use hot glue to hold any loose pieces (F).

Note: When you begin to place the flowers and foliage, start with a couple of big flowers first, leaving space between them. Work around them with other smaller flowers and foliage. It’s also nice to have some foliage pieces that hang down, creating a more natural look.

Pic D
Pic D

Pic E
Pic E

Pic F
Pic F

Painted letters
Letter decorations

Resene Soulful

Resene Porsche

Resene Paper Doll

Resene Melting Moment

Project by Marsha Smith, April 2020

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Projects from the Australian Women's Weekly
View more project ideas from The Australian Women's Weekly magazine in the Resene weekend craft projects section.

Australian Women's Weekly | All craft projects

Resene Paints Ltd – www.resene.com