Easy DIY Letter Board with Letters!

As you have gathered by now if you are a reader here, the letter board craze from the past couple of years has caught on in this house in a very big way, and has now become yet one more way for me to display my passionate love for words!  Ironically, it seems my letter board collection is always in need of “just one more”, and that is what inspired this project!  Our one empty corner of the screened porch was just crying out for a good message, so I started the search for supplies to make one!

I knew I was looking for a good frame with some neutral backing to hold the letter tracking, so I headed to Hobby Lobby.  I have found so many good deals on frames and art work there in the past to re-purpose for my projects, and once again, I found the perfect one!

This large canvas art was the perfect colored wood frame that I had in mind, and the price was great, too, at less than $20!

For only a few dollars more, I bought basic white craft paint and 4 square dowel rods to complete the project!

I used 2 different sizes of the wooden rods:  the larger being 5/8″ x 36″ and the smaller being 1/4″ x 36″.  These are perfect for making the tracks for the letters!

The first step was painting the canvas to get a basic white background.  This particular canvas had been painted with a heavy texture, but that was fine with me– it just gave the effect of plaster for the finished product. 

After painting a couple coats and letting it dry, the next step was just adding the tracks for the letters!  I made these by first cutting each of the dowel rods in half (actually my husband did this cutting for me to help me out!)  He used an electric saw to get a clean cut then just lightly sanded the edges.

Next, I just used a hot glue gun to attach the smaller square rod to the top of the larger one! 

Obviously, your length of the cuts you will need to make will depend on the size of your letter board, but this general method can be used in so many ways!  After the tracks were done, I just spaced them evenly and glued them onto my canvas to finish the board!

As for letters, I’ve got you covered!  You can print as many as you’d like by downloading this set HERE.  I printed mine on heavy card stock at the actual size, but they can be sized up or down a little for you, depending on the size of your board!

The last thing to do is cut out your letters and decide on a message! A good paper trimmer like this one comes in handy for this! (click on the image to shop my affiliate link)

More to come very soon on other new decor out here on this porch! But for those wondering about this new table, yes, I’m loving it and you can shop it below!! 

I can’t wait to see how many of you give this letter board a try.  And I hope you’ll share your different versions with me!