Krafty Kate - Scrabble Picture Project

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I love doing arts and crafts. In fact, my Pinterest board "Crafty Like a Fox" comes in second for total number of pins (beat out by my food board - not because I cook, but because I REALLY like to eat *hangs head in shame*). 

Since the last couple months have been full of moving and road-trip planning, I haven't been able to do anything artsy craftsy in a while.

And since the next several weeks will be spent in our car, I won't be able to do anything artsy craftsy until June.

Sad.

So, since I can't actually do a craft, I'll share a craft that I made previously. Apologies in advance for the lack of step-by-step photos, but I didn't plan on posting this :)

Scrabble Picture Project - December 2012

For Christmas this year, I wanted to make something for my grandma's gift. She is OBSESSED with Scrabble, and loves to play Words With Friends on her iPad (we recently commented on how a lot of grandmas like to knit, to which she claimed that Words With Friends is her knitting. My grandma is hilarious).

On Pinterest, I had seen a few examples of people using Scrabble tiles to create a framed picture:

But I wanted to be more ambitious. (Of course I did). I didn't just want a couple words - I wanted to use the names of all 15 of her grandchildren.

The first step was to map out how the names would fit on the Scrabble board.

Joe and I made a table in Microsoft Word with the same number of squares as a Scrabble board (15 x 15). Then we experimented with how we could place the names on the board to make them fit (and, hopefully, maximize those darn K's so I didn't have to spend too much on tiles).

It took about 2 hours, but we finally got it. SCORE!

The next step was to get the tiles and a board.

My mom had an older Scrabble set she didn't want any longer (she had replaced hers with the Library edition from Target), which worked great because I could use those tiles and the older board. Her board was MUCH better than the current boards, which are really colorful and definitely not the look I was going for. If you want to actually frame a board with words on it, I recommend checking out thrift shops or garage sales to get a more classic look.

Since we still needed more tiles, I waited for Black Friday and bought a few Scrabble sets at Target for $7 each. This was the cheapest way I found, since Scrabble is usually around $19 per game and buying tiles on their own online is pricier than I expected.

The next step was finding a frame that would work with the raised tiles (I wanted the glass to cover the finished product, but frames don't usually allow for much space). We were originally going to use a shadow box, but then we found a great frame at Michaels. It was a collage frame with a raised decorative cross in the middle. Since the frame was made to accommodate the cross, it would also accommodate the tiles. We had to pry off the cross, but it was pretty, so we kept it to hang in our house (score for frugal Kate).

We affixed the Scrabble tiles to the board and the board to the frame's mat using Tacky glue.

And we were finished!

She loved it :)

"Nonno" is grandfather in Italian. We always called my grandpa Nonno because he was so proud of his heritage. I hope that my dad will also be a Nonno. The golden pin in the middle is the mascot of my family's winery. Had I not used that pin, I would have probably painted a heart on the center square.

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