Oversized Moss Letter Tutorial and Some Photos of My Little Snuggle Bugs

I may have to let Jason guest post more often! I think he enjoyed reading your comments as much as I did. This summer he is going to be taking over the business side of Dear Lillie. Despite his claims, though, he will not be taking over the artistic side, but maybe I will let him do a guest post every now and again so he can exercise his writing skills and mock me...or maybe he can find another family member to pick on next time. Although I am sure after having me boss him around on a regular basis he will probably have lots of complaining to do about me again!

I also want to thank you all for your continued prayers for Lola Wren! We truly appreciate it and will be sure to let you know once we get the pathology report back.

Now onto the tutorial!

 A while back I mentioned how I loved the large moss letters that Pottery Barn was selling but they were sooooo expensive! ($79 each plus shipping and handling) We did a tutorial on how to make a smaller version of them and I used those in dining room. However, I still wanted to make a large one. I couldn't find a large enough base letter anywhere, though! I finally decided just to use what I had and make my own. I found a large cardboard box in the garage and cut out an "H". By using cardboard you can make the letter(s) any size you want. Mine is about two feet tall. It also allows you to make any assortment of letters you want - all for free! When I did my last post I wasn't able to use any of the words I wanted because the craft store was missing so many letters.  I also was FINALLY able to get my hands on the moss that comes in sheets! We just had a new craft store open in Williamsburg and they carried it. Before that I hadn't been able to find it anywhere.

1). First, draw your letter on a piece of cardboard. 

It's okay if you mess up because you are going to be covering it with moss anyway. It may help to use a ruler for any straight lines or to make guides for curves (I made a C for my mom and a D for one of my sisters to cut out and used a ruler to make sure my curves were the same width where I started as they were at the end).

2) Cut your letter out using scissors or a box cutter. 

I was lazy and didn't feel like getting up to get my box cutter so I just used scissors. It worked fine, but it would have gone much more quickly had I just gotten up and gone to the garage and gotten my box cutter. In my defense, though, I made this the day before I had Lorelei so I was not exactly full of energy!

3) Now start up in one corner and put some hot glue on the cardboard.

(Work in small sections so the glue doesn't harden before you attach the moss).

4) Now place the sheet of moss over the glue.  

You want it to overlap the cardboard - do NOT trim it!

(If you can't find moss in sheets like this you can refer to this tutorial on how to proceed with regular "clumps" of moss).

5) Cover the whole letter.  

 It doesn't need to be perfect or even close to it! Just make sure it is completely covered and you have enough around the edges to fold over onto the back.

 6) Now flip it over. 

In retrospect I wish I had even more moss overlapping but it was my first time and I was just "winging it" so I wasn't sure what I was doing. In the future I will have it overlap even more.

  

7) Use more hot glue and fold over the edges onto the back.

8) You'll have to slice the corner areas a bit to get them to fold over.

9) Once the edges are all folded and glued start adding glue and "patching in" the empty spots with strips of moss.

Keep going!

 

And there you have it!

As I mentioned I made "H" the day before Lorelei arrived. I also took a bunch of pictures of Lillie in an adorable dress my mom made her. She just made a matching one for Lorelei that arrived in the mail yesterday so I am going to take some photos of them wearing the dresses together at some point. Here's a shot of Lillie, though, on one of her last days of being an only child!

And here are some quick candid shots from this morning of the girls snuggling in bed. Although I am NOT a morning person, this past week I have really been enjoying my mornings as Lillie, Lola and I all snuggle up in bed. Lillie begs to hold Lola and it is so sweet watching them together. I wish I had taken a minute to tame Lillian's wild and crazy hair - oh well. I got it tucked behind her ear for one shot and then it went back to being everywhere!

 

This is long overdue but I wanted to announce the winner of the Baby Guessing Contest! Congratulations to Picture Perfect Pixies! 

She guessed the date and weight exactly! 

Send us an e-mail at dearlillie@hotmail.com to collect your prize!

I am hoping to work on another tutorial this weekend to share on Monday or Tuesday but I am learning with two little ones things don't always go according to the plan so we shall see if I actually get it done or not!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!