In our Florida neighborhood most of the houses looked VERY similar.  I liked to keep a large “R” on our front door in lieu of a wreath.   I considered it a bit of a challenge to change it up seasonally and had fun reinventing it over and over.  One of my girlfriends told me that if I ever took the “R” down her kids would never be able to find my house! (Yes, Liz, I’m talking about your kids. LOL)

Here are a whole bunch of ideas how your can snazz up an ordinary cardboard craft store letter.

JANUARY

For the month of January I covered the paper mache letter with adhesive spray glue and sprinkled on buffalo snow flakes.  It added a little sparkle and winter fun in Florida.

FEBRUARY

I scraped off the snow flakes and hot glued dollar store roses to the “R” for Valentine’s.

MARCH/APRIL

Pulled off the roses and used spray adhesive again and sheet moss for a spring feel.  I really liked this look and it would be great indoors.  After a million times of the door slamming bits of moss were dropping off.

The letter had been glued and stripped a few times so I covered the letter with various colors and patterns of scrapbook paper using modpodge.   This strengthened it and extended the life of the R. 

Not a great picture but I think you get the idea.  Said it before and I’ll say it again….didn’t know I was going to become a blogger or I would have taken more pictures!

I whipped up a few one year for Christmas gifts for relatives.  You can use newspaper, music paper, wrapping paper, tissue paper, photos, magazines…you name it! Mod podge is magical.  Brush it on the object then add the paper.  Top with another coat of mod podge to seal it.  Viola!

Later I wrapped it in jute with a few dabs of hot glue.  It had become a bit distressed from all of its costume changes, weather, falling off the door etc.  The R stayed covered in jute long term and then I starting embellishing on top of that! Lol.  The jute was my favorite next to the moss.

Added some sweet rosettes made from scrap fabric.

Added Fall and Christmas ribbon on top of the jute the following season.

That R had a really long run on the front door at 5913.  I swear it had feathers at one time for Mardi Gras/Gasparilla but I couldn’t find a picture.   It was the largest size letter sold at Joann’s made of paper mache and I’m sure I used a 40% off coupon.  Whatever I paid I sure got my money’s worth!

When you want to change out your front door wreath here are a few fun ideas to consider 🙂