This entire project was inspired by these awesome alphabet cards by Jenn Ski for K&Company that I found at Michaels. I previously featured Jenn’s animal letter prints in my roundup of modern nursery art on Etsy. When I saw her new Actopus to Zelephant Collection at Michael’s I immediately knew she had licensed her designs to K&Company.
The set of alphabet cards was only $6.99. So cute, but too flimsy for my son to play with. I wanted to find a way to display the lightweight cardstock cards so my son could enjoy them. After a lot of pondering over frames, cork boards, and clotheslines, I finally came up with a great idea to mount the cards to canvas and secure them with silver brads.
To make your own Jenn Ski Alphabet Card art:
Supplies:
- Jenn Ski 5 x 7 inch Alphabet Cards (or similar)
- 24 x 48 inch stretched canvas
- 104 silver brads (3/8 inch)
- Yes! Paste
- Large, sharp yarn needle
- 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips
Step by Step:
- Punch 1/8 inch holes at all four corners of each card. I measured 1/2 inch in from the top and sides on the first card to mark placement of the holes. Then I used the first card as a template for marking the holes on the rest of the cards.
- Layout your cards in alphabetical order on the canvas in three row with 9 cards in the top and bottom rows and eight cards in the middle row. Evenly space them across the canvas. I started trying to measure exact placements and it made me go crazy, so I gave up and eyeballed it.
- Mount each card to the canvas with the Yes! Paste. Don’t worry about spreading the paste all the way to the edges, just generously cover the body of the card to hold it in place.
- Use the large, sharp yarn needle to carefully punch holes in the canvas through the pre-punched holes on each card.
- Press brads into all the holes. (Note: For holes that are over the stretcher bars of the canvas, you may need to push out canvas from the back before poking the needle through.)
- While applying pressure on the top of each brad to ensure it is in all the way, open the prongs of each brad on the back of the canvas. (Note: For brads going in holes that are over the stretcher bars of the canvas, you may need to use a flathead screw driver to get in between canvas and stretcher bars to open the prongs.)
- Apply 8 large 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips to the back of the frame, two per side. Follow directions on the strips.
- Use a level to mount completed art to the wall.
A big thanks to Mom for helping assemble this and for being the hand model in the pictures!
I love how this turned out. The colors are perfect in my son’s nursery. My son used to have a canvas that I painted for him above the crib hung with wire and a picture hook, but as soon as he could reach it he made a hobby of trying to spin the canvas around the hook. I am fairly confident the combination of paste, brads, and 3M strips makes it pretty indestructible even though it is hung over the crib.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Jennae @ Green Your Decor // Apr 29, 2009 at 10:07 am
This is absolutely beautiful! I have always wanted a large-scale piece of art like this for my daughter’s room, and now I have the tools to try making it myself. Thank you Jackie!
2 natalie // Apr 29, 2009 at 5:53 pm
way cool!
thanks!
3 Travelingmama // Apr 30, 2009 at 6:51 am
Love this idea! I have a pack of alphabet cards from Pottery Barn that have just been waiting for me to do something with them. I’ll have to remember this idea for sure!
4 kelley @ my island wedding // Apr 30, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I love this!!!!
5 Jill // May 28, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I love this idea, how creative! And it seems so doable. Love it!
I also love the crib in the photo, where did you get it?
6 Jennifer // May 28, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I got these cards a while back and wanted to do something like this but couldn’t quite figure it out – Thank You for this awesome project idea!!
7 Amanda // May 29, 2009 at 1:14 am
YES! I have been trying to figure out a way to hang similar cards that I have by Martha Stewart from Michael’s… this is WONDERFUL, I am going to do this and post at a low height where my son plays when he is a little older so he can see it easily!
8 One Crafty Place » DIY Alphabet Card Display // May 29, 2009 at 6:09 am
[...] Tiny Decor came up with a way to use stretched canvas to display the alphabet cards she purchased for her son. I would love to do this with our alphabet cards. I believe they’re sitting in a bin somewhere at the moment and I would much rather have them out where we can see them regularly! Stretched canvas can get expensive, though, so I’ll be on the lookout for large pieces of artwork on canvas at the thrift stores that I can just paint over. An explanation of how the cards are attached can be found here! (via Ohdeedoh) [...]
9 Jackie // May 29, 2009 at 7:27 am
Thank you all for the wonderful comments.
Jill, the crib is from Room & Board. We got it almost half off at their Minneapolis Weekend Outlet. It also comes now with the wood in a darker finish.
10 Megan // May 29, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Super cute!
11 Katy // Jun 1, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I love this.
I will be adding this to my list of projects for the nursery.
12 Lisa // Jun 16, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I was so inspired by this that I went out and purchased all the materials above from Michale’s this afternoon to attempt making it. Mine you that I am not artsy-fartsy type so thank you for the details tutorial. Plus, now I can add something “handmade” to my son’s nursery. *much much appreciated*
13 bohaute » Blog Archive » Actopus To Zelephant - Jenn Ski // Jun 17, 2009 at 2:02 pm
[...] from Michaels. Take a look here at the collection. To get the same look as the room above, click here for the [...]
14 Mckay // Aug 4, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Did you mod podge over the top of these at all to seal it? Is it necessary? Would it even work? Sorry for all the questions. I love this project and just went and bought the stuff to do it. Thanks so much for sharing.
Mckay
15 Jackie // Aug 4, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Mckay,
I did not modge podge over the top. I don’t think it is necessary at all. Other readers that have done this project didn’t even paste the cards down because they felt the brads were secure enough. The cards are fairly durable so don’t worry about sealing them. Thanks for reading!!!
16 Jessica // Sep 9, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Great idea! Thanks a million for sharing. I already ordered the cards and can’t wait to get started.
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