Foam Board Scrabble Tiles

To set the stage for my kid's play nook, I wanted some fun decor…enough with the huge, decade-old poster board of pictures equally as old. Pinterest pulls up "excuse the mess, my kids are making memories" wall decals and expensive Etsy Scrabble tiles. I love the tile idea, but I can't rationalize spending a load, especially per letter…I've got a lot to say, $2-6 a letter is gonna get pricey. Also, my house being circa 1900, some walls are weaker than others and can't handle too much weight. So here's my cheap, lightweight solution: Foam Board Scrabble Tiles.

You'll need:

- foam board (depends on your words and size, I needed one)

- exacto knife or box cutter

- ruler

- pencil

- tape

- printer and paper

- paint (optional)

- sharpie

- craft popsicle sticks

- glue gun

- velcro dots (optional)

First, figure our what you want on your wall…I got my actual scrabble tiles out and started playing around with what could fit together. Then get on your computer and print it out in the font you like (I stuck with Helvetica) and the size you want (mine were well in the 300 range) and then print out the numbers to accommodate your letters. Cut out your letters and numbers.

Now grab your foam board and decide how big you want your tiles to be (I went with 5"x5.5" to fit my 'w') and using your ruler and pencil, measure it out, then cut out your pieces.

 Now trace the back of the letters with pencil, be as precise as possible! Then tape it to your tile, and using the tip of your pencil with the lead pressed in, rub around the letter until the letter is fully transferred. Repeat with your numbers.

Once you're done with the tracing, you have the option to paint your tiles (or I suppose you could have painted them first if you want your tiles to be a complete other color). I like the splattered paint look…it's childish and whimsical. I stuck with the turquoise and yellow that I used with the bench. I painted the popsicle sticks with a green to match one of the pillows I bought.

After that's all dry, you can trace your letter and fill them in with sharpie, or if you trust your artistic abilities, paint…I used sharpie. Ha.

It's not perfect, but you get it.

Once all your tiles are done…give yourself a pat on the back and do a shot (Tarantula or Rumpleminz if you're pouring one for me!)…cuz that was a pain in the ass! Just take comfort in the fact that I share your pain through this whole process.

Using your glue gun, line up and glue together your words (you can choose to put them straight together without the popsicle stick showing, I went the more chaotic route…because this is for the minions, remember). I glued them in two sets, then glued them together once they were on the wall…having a helping hand might make this set easier.

After all was said and done, some of the letters weren't as flat on the wall as I would like…so I used these little velcro dots to get them to stick. You could probably use these little dots to hang

each letter individually if you like!

Here's my before and after.

And yeah, it does kinda bug me that the end of 'play' is shooting upward…maybe I'll fix it, but probably not.