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Decorating with Letters

Lining Up Your Letters Properly

I have individual black letters 4" in height that I want to put on the wall in a vertical line to spell "home" on one side of my window and "family" on the other side of the window.

My question is how do I do this? There are no hooks on the back of the letters and aligning them so they are evenly spaced one below the other and level will be a challenge.

I've thought about gluing them on to a strip of wood spray painted black and then attaching a single hanger to the top might work but then I was wondering if there is some way to attach them one below the other but with a small strip of something or other in between each letter might work better?????????????

Any suggestions?

Betty

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I like your idea of putting the letters on a plaque except I don’t understand why you would paint the plaque black.

A contrasting color would make the letters stand out better. I also like your idea of hanging them along a ribbon to make a banner. It depends on what will look best with your décor.

How to Hang a Word Art Banner

To hang the letters on a ribbon, plan about two inches between the letters and another two inches at the top and bottom. This will give pleasing proportions.

For “LOVE” you would need a ribbon 26 inches long plus a little extra for hems. So make it 28 inches.

Again, I don’t know your décor, but a solid deep red or black and white stripe would look smashing with the black letters.

Attach the top of the ribbon to a decorative ring for hanging by folding it over the ring and blind stitching a hem on the back side.

Lay the ribbon right side up on a flat surface. Position the first letter two inches down from the ring. If the letters aren’t too heavy, you can attach them with PVA white glue like Elmer’s Glue-All.

Position and attach the remaining letters. Measure two more inches of ribbon and cut straight across. Form the bottom of the ribbon into a triangle by folding to a point at the back. Press and stitch.

If you don’t want the hanging ring to show, add a bow at the top to cover it. You can also hang a tassel, bell or small photo frame.

How to Hang Letters in a Perfect Vertical Line

Since your letters don’t have a means to attach them built in, use two-sided cushioned tape designed for mounting things on walls. You can buy it in rolls or little precut squares or circles. If you ever want to remove the letters, just saw through the cushion part with a serrated knife.

Once the letter is removed, you can peel off much of the residue with your fingers and remove any remainder with a product like Goo Gone. No damage done.

Positioning the letters in a straight vertical line may seem like the tricky part but it’s really easy.

Tape together sheets of 8 ½ by 11-inch paper to make a strip a little longer than your word art. Lay the paper on the floor. Let’s use the right edge of the paper to indicate the center of each letter. (You would use the right edge for the word you want to hang to the left of the widow and the left edge for the other side.)

Mark the top and bottom center of each letter with white chalk. Center the letters along the paper’s right edge two inches apart. Mark the top, bottom and left side of each letter on the paper with a pencil. Move the letters out of the way.

Use a ruler to draw a rectangle defined by the marks you made for each letter. Cut out the rectangles.

Position and tape the pattern to the wall. Make sure it is vertically straight by checking with a level. Put two or more pieces of mounting tape on the back of each letter and use the chalk marks to center the letter in the appropriate rectangle.

Remove the paper pattern and clean the chalk marks from the letters. Perfect!

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