Cardboard Keys

I think most people have experienced running behind schedule. In my case we usually include frantic searches for every lost shoe, missing Elmo, stuffed bear, action figure or barbie doll. Leading to me sternly buckling my heathen children into their car seats.  Only to hear the phrase "I need to use the potty", which leads to rushing back into the house and repeating the buckling step once again. Only to sit down in my vehicle to realize I can't find my keys. I'm pretty certain most mom's can relate to this scenario. 

I decided I needed a designated location for my keys, which led to craft project #2: Cardboard letters spelling Keys!

I love saving money and crafting on a small budget. I could have used my money to buy letters, but I'd seen cardboard letters done before on Pinterest and decided if they can do it so can I. 

For this project I used a cardboard from a diaper box, tape, glue gun, scrapbook paper, brown craft twine, exacto cutter or scissors, a ruler, sewing measuring mat, and other embellishments such as buttons, ribbon and flowers.  

Using my sewing mat I decided each letter would be 5 inches tall and 3 inches wide at its widest point. You can get creative with the shape of your letters, but I found the boxy letters seem to work the best. I used my ruler to measure out each letters thickness of 1 inch. Once I cut out 1 set of each letter, I just traced the second set so I didn't have to get the ruler out again. 

Once both sets are cut out you need to measure and cut 1 inch strips that will go in between your front and back letters. They can be as long as you want, just needs to be 1 inch in width. Using tape and glue connect your letters. Depending on if you want your letters to be curvy or sharp looking you can either keep the 1 inch strips connected throughout the whole process or cut the exact length of each angle. This is probably the hardest part of the whole project so be patient. 

Once the letters are made you can decorate them as you wish. I love using twine and/or yarn. They seemed to cover the cardboard the best and were very forgiving to oddities in the letters shape. Use a glue gun to wrap the ends of your letters first then glue and wrap the rest. 

Scrapbook paper was a little harder. I placed the letters on a large sheet of my desired colors and cut a very exaggerated letter to cover the cardboard. As seen below I added twin on the "E" around the edges. I had to do this to cover where the papers edge was. Thankfully it added some cute individuality to that letter. I also wrapped the "Y" in the middle to cover odd paper placement. 

These can be decorated anyway your heart desires. Make it your own and never loose your keys again!