{create this} monogrammed cork board tile ~ personalized baby gift

My best friend, who my boys call Aunt Jen, brought my newest 'niece' into the world last month - yay! But since we were working through the flu, I had to wait to get my baby fix until a few weekends ago!  Sweet, sweet Janelle needed an equally sweet gift and I wanted to make something that she can use for many years to come.  (I made her sister Jordyn this personalized name banner from upcycled restaurant coasters!) 

So, I picked up a cork board tile at Target and a wooden J from Joann's and put together this perfectly girly pinkalicious monogrammed cork board tile!!

Here are the supplies that I used for this project:

• 12x12 cork board tile
• large wooden letter
• acrylic paint
• felt - several colors
• Scotch brand patterned duct tape
• washi tape
• twine/cord
• pom pom trim
• hot glue gun & glue sticks
• E6000 adhesive
• sand paper
• ink (optional)

First, sand any rough edges and paint the wooden letter with acrylic paint and allow to dry.  If you want a little more aged/rustic look, sand the edges and surface of your painted letter with sand paper.  Run an ink pad (I used a chocolate brown) around the edges of the wooden letter and sand lightly over the inked edges.

Glue one rolled felt flower to the wooden letter and a length of pom pom trim.  Adhere the wooden letter to the cork tile with E6000 and a little hot glue for good measure.  (Since the E6000 takes a while to set, I used the hot glue just to hold it in place so I could handle the cork tile.)

Speaking of flowers, I like this tutorial for rolled felt flowers over at Mrs. Priss.  (I made some of these flowers for the frames in my crafty cubicle makeover, too!) I used white and two shades of pink for my flowers and added mossy green felt leaves.  I used hot glue to adhere two of them in the corner of the tile and added the third to the wooden J.

In the same corner as the felt flowers, I added light pink pom pom trim and a cute little flag garland!  I used pretty patterned Scotch duct tape and pink polka dotted washi tape.  Making this garland was so easy ... just fold a length of tape over twine and then trim a triangle out of the bottom of each flag.  I attached the pom pom trim and flag garland on the sides of the cork tile with hot glue.

And there you have it - a gift that fits perfectly in her nursery now ...

... and is just waiting for Janelle to fill it with pictures of teenage pop stars, ticket stubs, fortune cookie fortunes and all of the cool clutter from a teenage girl!

Here are a few more crafty gift giving ideas that you may enjoy!
Birthday banner in a box
Printable teacher appreciation cards
Summer hostess gift

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