DIY Floral Letters for Under $40
Alright ladies, let’s get into craft season (I slay)! Though we all know crafting never really stops—during the summer it’s for recruitment; in the fall it’s for your new little; in the spring, it’s senior spoils!—we wanted to kick off the summer right: with cute, new letters to display around the chapter house, your dorm room, or during recruitment!
It’s no secret that chapter room decorations can get a little pricey, so we found a craft that’s on a budget and is super easy!
The Supplies
We used all English alphabet letters to create a cute A-List sign; for those of you fortunate enough to be a part of a sorority who has an entirely English letter nickname or variation, you can find your letters at any craft store. We discovered these wooden pegboard letters at our local craft spot. We highly recommend finding letters with holes in them like ours, or getting letters that are hollow so that the flowers will sit in them easier. Another option is to get a very easily pierced material, like cork or foam. For Greek letters, there are less variations but this fiber board option is a good choice.
Next were the silk flowers; lots and lots of flowers. Pro(ish) Tip: Stay in the same color variations–if you want bright and sunny, more summery letters, stick with oranges, yellows and bright pinks. If you’re looking for a cooler, breezier vibe, find some purple, blue, and deep green variations. We opted to go in the middle—cool spring time florals with some orange pops to break up the pinks and reds, so our craft stayed mostly in the pink, red, purple, white, and orange families. Also, you’ll get more bang for your buck if you purchase in bunches, rather than single flowers. Oh and look in the sale sections…flowers, even silk, can run you up quite a bit!
Lastly, make sure you have a sturdy hot glue gun and enough hot glue to get you through the entire project! Five to six sticks of glue will get the job done, but we recommend having that bag-o-crafts close by just in case you need backup.
The Crafting
First and foremost, get your area prepped. Cut the stems off of all the flowers; most of the time, the bloom will actually pop right off the stem. If you have pegboard, cork or foam lettering, having some of the stem is okay to anchor the flower through the holes. If you went the hollow letter route or the fiber board route, cut as close to the bloom as possible so that the flower can make contact with the hot glue and letter.
From here, regardless of the lettering, it’s the same: hot glue each bloom generously, and stick it on the letter. As easy as that! You don’t necessarily have to start at any particular point of the letter. Fill in spaces based on which colors are around it, the sizes of the blooms etc. Once you have the first layer on, then you can check to see which spots you want to beef up! Another Pro(ish) Tip: the hot glue will solidify quickly, so organize before applying the sticky stuff.
Actually gluing the flowers on is the most time consuming part of the craft, but it really doesn’t take too much crafty or creative skill to be able to pull this one off. Trust me, not all of us at A-List have the craft gene, but we still managed to make it happen!
So after a few hours (and five letters later), we finally had a finished product! It came out even better than we were expecting! Give each letter a shake to make sure all the flowers are stuck in place (we found a few holdouts but got them fixed quickly). When you’re done, you’ll have the cutest chapter room decorations to keep the house cheery throughout the summer and to use during recruitment!