DIY Craft: Cardboard EAT Sign for Your Kitchen

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After making fun word art and punny song graphics for my kitchen upgrade, I realized the space was still lacking something. There was a void above the top frame.



I toyed with the idea of buying word decals, but then that would bust my zero dollar kitchen upgrade budget. Then it hit me, I could make an EAT sign with the cardboard I keep on hand for crafty projects and all the white shelf paper we have.



For this craft, I decided to just wing it. Had I planned it out a little better, it would have gone a little faster and smoother as it's actually quite simple. Although I used shelf paper to cover my first layer of cardboard and drew on polka dots, patterned duct tape would have worked just as well.

Below are the steps in the order you should do them, not the steps I actually followed myself.

Things You'll Need:
Cardboard
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors and/or Box Cutter
Duct Tape and/or Shelf Paper
Hot Glue
Sharpie (optional)

1.) Plot your letters on cardboard. I initially made each letter 12 inches tall, but later sized them down to 10 inches. (This is where better planning would have come in handy.)


2.) Cut out the letters with scissors or a box cutter blade. I cut with scissors first and then smoothed out any rough edges with the blade. It helps if you have a cat supervise.



3.) Create dimension for your letters by cutting out a larger set of letters to use as the background/border.


In my case, I didn't realize I needed this step until I put my unlined letters on the wall. My first thought was, "They need dimension." My husband's comment was, "You should outline them in black." So I married the two ideas.



4.) Cover your letters in the shelf paper and/or duct tape of your choice. I used Gorilla Tape for my black background because it's what I had on hand, but Duck Tape brand is a lot less expensive and a little easier to use for crafts because it's not as thick. To save on tape, I only covered the edges of my background letters.


5.) Decorate your letters with Sharpie, if desired. Fabric paint would also work well. You want something that will stick to the slick shelf paper with minimal smudging. Although it was a little time consuming, drawing the polka dots myself was a nice way to turn my mind off and unwind right before bed.



6.) Hot glue each top letter to its backing mate.

7.) Hang. I inserted one nail through one polka dot on each letter, and then colored each nail head with red Sharpie. You can't even see the nails.



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