Make It: DIY Tissue-Covered Initials

On 11 October, 2011 by Amy Cluck

Colored tissue paper is definitely the party decoration of the year. You see it everywhere – from crepe paper photobooth backgrounds to tissue flowers hanging from the ceiling, it’s everywhere. Here’s an idea I came up with when I was looking for an initial display for my sister’s engagement party. I liked the idea of wooden letters but wanted a pop of color too.

Materials:
Wooden Letter(s)
Tissue Paper in Your Choice of Colors

Cut the tissue paper into trips and then 1″ squares. Cut up a few strips at a time so you don’t end up with a bunch of unused tissue squares. Unless you are looking to make some tissue paper confetti, that is.

Put some regular white glue on a paper plate.

Now grab one of the tissue squares from the middle and scrunch into a flower shape.

Dip the bottom of the tissue flower in the glue.

Now gently place the flower on the wooden letter.

Continue until the whole front side of the letter is covered in tissue flowers. Don’t worry about being perfect here. You can “mold” the tissue flowers a bit once they dry. Add in more flowers if you notice any bare spots. You can also sort of push down on the flowers a it to make them flatter if they stick out too much. The fun of tissue paper is that it doesn’t need to be uniform or perfect to look good!

Cover the sides of the letter(s) in tissue paper strips, paper mache style. Just dip the strips of tissue in the glue and work into place with your fingers, wrapping it around to the front and back of the letter as needed. You can add more strips, add more glue on top of the tissue, etc. and just work into place until the whole letter is covered. Again, no need for perfection here.

Ta-da! Instant table decoration.

The initials I created for my sister’s engagement party came with pegs and a block of wood to hold the letters up. I used the same method as described above, utilizing all of her wedding colors. They made a classy centerpiece for my cupcake display. She loved the initials so much that she is displaying them in her home.