Materials:
1) Wood letters: I bought these at my local craft store and they come in many different styles.
2) Paint: You will need water based acrylic paint, make sure that it is watery/thin so the glitter comes through.
3) Glitter: I used silver glitter, but you can try any color you want to see what works
4) Paintbrushes: Obviously
5) Matte Finish Spray Paint: I use Krilon UV-Resistant Clear spray paint. Make sure that it is a clear matte finish so you don't have any glare. If your project is going to be near a lot of sunlight, be sure to use the UV-Resistant type so there isn't fading.
Step 1: Mix your paint & glitter: Be sure you cover the surface you're working on as this can get messy. I have a craft closet so I don't, but if you don't have a designated art place, make sure to cover your work area. The first thing you need to do is mix your paint and glitter.
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| There is no exact recipe, just add as much glitter as you want |
Step 2: Paint your letters: Once your glitter and paint are mixed you can paint your letters, you will probably need a couple coats of paint since the paint is so thin, so don't freak out if you don't see that much glitter.
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Here is a close up of the first layer of paint for each of my colors.
NOTE: I used craft mate brand paint for the pink and Martha Stewart brand for the green. The Martha Stewart brand was a little thick even though it is water based. So make sure you test a small area first or get an off brand paint because they are most likely thinner in consistency.
Step 3a (optional): Add extra glitter: If your paint is a little thicker you may have to add more glitter depending on the look you want. You can do this in two ways. One: you can just sprinkle a little bit of glitter on top of the final layer of paint once it's applied. Or, you can make the last layer of paint a higher ratio of glitter (about two to one) and that should get the glitter look.
Step 3: Spray with clear coat: Once you have let the paint dry (at least three hours) spray a generous coat of clear coat onto your project. This is VERY important. What the clear coat does is it helps to hold the glitter in place (especially important if you sprinkled extra glitter on). Even if the glitter is mixed in the paint, when it dries it can separate from the paint and flake off a little. The clear coat seals the glitter into the paint so it won't flake off. An additional benefit is if you use the UV-Resistant kind then you don't have to worry about the colors fading in the light.
Step 4: Backing: Now this step depends on what your craft is. Since I am making wall letters for my daughters "big girl" room I needed to put some backings on the letters to hang them. My problem was the wood letters I chose were so thin I didn't think a traditional hanging mechanism would work. So I bout some of those command strips and they seem to be working well.
They were a little expensive, I believe these were $5 for a packet of three at our local craft store. But, they do seem to be holding on really well.
Step 5: Decorations: Again, this depends on what you are using the glitter paint for but I wanted to add some extra decorations to the name letters. Since my daughter's room is owl theme I decided to put some owls on the letters. This is a similar to the look I did for her nursery when she was an infant.
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| I found these felt owls at our craft store, they stuck on really easily and had a variety of colors. |
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| This pack came with four different color combinations of owls so I had a lot to choose from. |
And here is what the final product looked like:
I really like how I alternated the colors of the letters, and you can see a little bit of the glitter reflecting in the light, but it's way more noticeable in person.
I hope this was helpful to anyone looking for a cute way to add some "spice" to regular room letters! Let me know any tricks you guys use to decorate your little one's rooms.
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