DIY Lettered String Art

I recently experimented with string art in making something for my friend's little girl, Celia. It was inspired by state string art as seen on Pinterest. I figured making it with letters would be just as easy! Turns out it was simple enough...just VERY time consuming!

What you'll need:
-piece of wood- cut to the size you want
-nails
-string- I used embroidery string from the craft store
-printer to print letters or just a pencil to draw them
-hammer

Here's how you create your personalized string art:

1-Will started out by cutting me some wood to the size I wanted. I think this one ended up being 1x2.
2- I painted the entire piece pink. Once it was dried I put some Vaseline on the edges then painted it white. The Vaseline made it much easier for distressing so the pink would show through the white.
3- I printed out the exact font and size of the letters that I wanted then cut out the letters. Once I had print them all out I realized that I could use so much less ink if I had just used an outlined black letter instead of an entire black one--duh!
4- Using painter's tape, tape down the letters onto the board exactly how you want them.

5- Next you've just got to start hammering nails around the edges of the letters. This is the time consuming part. I spaced my nails about an inch apart. I think it looks better when the nails are closer as opposed to spaced farther apart.

6- Once the nails are in place, pull up your paper letters. This is an important step! I learned the hard way and started stringing before I pulled up the letter.

 7- Tie a knot around the first nail and just start wrapping! I made about 2-3 layers of string just to make it look darker and then went around all the edges to neaten it up. 

Sorry for the low quality photos- They were taken with my phone

Good luck and enjoy! I'd love to see how you personalize your string art! It would look great used as family name deco for a living room or just made with a 3 letter monogram for a child's room!