Tutorial: Wall Quotes

Looking for a unique way to decorate? Seen those beautiful wall quotes but don't want to spend a lot of money? Live in an apartment and want a more temporary solution than everlasting paint? Just indecisive? The Anapurna girls have a solution for you. Here's how to make your own wall quotes, with materials from the craft store.

Materials:

1-3 sheets craft foam, depending on quote length
Printer and paper
Scissors
Double-sided tape

Instructions:

1. Decide on your quote or letters.

2. Enter the quote into a word-processing program and play around with fonts until you find one you like. Print it out in several large font sizes.

3. Find the printout that’s the right letter size for your space and tape it to the wall for a couple of weeks. Live with it. (We used Monotype Corsiva in 300 pt.)

4. Cut out each paper letter. Put aside any letter duplicates. Flip each letter over so its mirror image is face up. (This will keep the letter outlines from showing on the finished letters.)



5. Place the flipped-over letters on the craft foam and trace around them with a fine-tip permanent marker. Try holding the letter in place with a bit of tape as you trace. Create as many of each letter as will be needed for the quote (for example, if your quote has three S’s, trace the S three times).

6. Carefully cut around the foam letters. Be sure to hold the scissors straight relative to the foam: since the foam is thicker than paper, it’s easy to deform the edge of the letter facing away from you. The best way to get a smooth cut is to cut as much as possible of each curve in one long, smooth stroke, rearranging the scissors as little as possible.



7. Stick the letters on the wall with double-sided tape. I got lazy and just put one long line of tape on the wall, but you could use a small piece to hold each letter or get fancy and use spray adhesive.

Here's the finished product -- a quote from our hero Alton Brown, in the place of honor in the kitchen! Note that one of the reasons we chose craft foam rather than scrapbook paper or something less three-dimensional was because of this intended kitchen placement; the craft foam will hold up to the rigors of grease, water, and humidity much better than flimsy paper!



Written by: Jamaila of Anapurna