Oh no she di'int!

Oh, yes I did.

Fiending for something--ANYthing--creative for the past few months, and not being able to find anything more than colored pencils and busts of Mao Tse Tung that I could paint ( What would one do with a painted bust of Mao??? Pin the nose on the dictator?) I realized I would just have to get resourceful.

And so I did.

NZ and I finally hung some artwork in Sal's room last weekend. I had printed up a few California themed pictures in white IKEA RIBBA frames. I felt like I had a good collection until we finally hung all 8 frames and I realized, whoa--I need to add more!

I started to peruse Pinterest since I have access to that without a VPN, and found the cardboard letters that everyone in the States can get at the local Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I wanted an "S" to add depth and interest to his wall. Finding them here in China? Ha ha. Yeah right. I searched pinterest for DIY cardboard letters and whaddya know..I found a DIY pinata tutorial and was able to adapt it to make my project.

Into the pantry I went, searching for cardboard. Shhhht, I just threw out a Huggies box--Then....ooh ohhh ohh, what do I see? An unopened box of Rice Krispies--Oh, Snap..crackle and POP! I ripped into that bad boy like there was no tomorrow, and chucked the bag back onto the shelves.

Oh, snap! Look who's getting resourceful.

 

My RC box had no idea what it had coming its way. I carefully pried open the seals so that the entire box lay flat as if it jad just come out of production. I went at one side of it with a highlighter pen, marking a big, boxy, letter "S" with my steadiest hand. Once satisfied with my "S", I cut it out, and traced a second "S" onto the other side of what was once the backside.

wrapping the 1/2" spacing strip proved challenging.



3-D "S" for Super Awesome Project gone right
 
 

To make it 3-D, I then cut 1/2" strips from the remaining box, and used them to space the two "S" shapes apart. I used scotch tape to join the two sides together with the 1/2" strip spacing them all the way around.

So, there you have it. MY very own, DIY letter.

The next day, I added an "A" and an "L" to my artillery. Not sure if I will use them or not, but at least now I have options.

I like options.

They're sitting on our bookshelf, buck nekkid right now, awaiting the purchase of a map that I plan to tear up and paper mache over it to look like this inspiration piece below. 

Photo from little white dog on etsy

If I don't find a map of my liking in the next few days, I will probably paint a CA State flag on them, drawing inspiration from the British flag covered letters below.