Here it is – the first of many festive DIY posts to come this holiday season!  For these holiday wall letters I decided to go with “JOY” for my bed frame.  A festive Christmasy bed?!  Taking it too far!?  Nope, not for me!  The beauty of these large letters is that you can put them anywhere in or outside your home.

I have always been a fan of walls adorning large letters – it really gets the message out loud and clear.  As a teenager I had large gold letters that read “NSYNC” hanging across my window – it was an obvious note to all passerbys a teenage girl lived inside. In hindsight, maybe not the best move, but at the time, I sure was proud!  Just as I am now of this beautiful festive JOYful bed!  I think these letters would look adorable above a mantle, in a window, or even outside a front door, but that’s coming from the girl with them on her bed…who also just confessed of her teeny bopper past…oh, and there is a photo of my cat in this tutorial too….but hopefully, you’ll still agree despite it coming from a creepy crafting cat lady!  The very easy 4-step DIY is below. Enjoy!

Materials needed:

• Spare cardboard box
• 1 x 18′ Tinsle Garland (I got mine at CVS for $1!)
• Pencil & Scissors
• Optional: Thin wire (to hang the letters)

1. Cut apart a spare cardboard box – cutting at the folds. I used a square box and cut 3 of the sides off.  Using the sides of a square box guarantees the height of your letters will be the same size without having to measure the cardboard.  Once you have your 3 equal-sized pieces of cardboard, sketch out your letters.  I decided to sketch my letters by hand, starting with the J.  I measured the width at the top of the “J”and used that measurement for the width of all of my letters to ensure a consistent letter size.  If you don’t feel comfortable sketching the letters by hand, use a computer to print your word large enough so that you can use it as a stencil.

2. Using your scissors, cut out each cardboard letter.

3. Start on the back side of your letter, taping the end of the tinsel garland to the board and begin to wrap around your board making circular motions, covering the entire letter.  Once your letter is finished, cut the tinsel garland and tuck the end of it into the tinsel on the back side of your letter.

4. If you plan on hanging your letters to a bed frame or on the wall, wrap a piece of wire towards the top of each letter.  This wire will be used to secure each letter wherever you plan to hang it.  And now, you’re all done!  oh joy!

He refused to move while I was trying to take this photo.  At least he’s really working it!