How to cover chipboard letters in a Word Book

One of the most frequent questions I get when I tell someone about, or show them the "Clearly My Album" set-up at Clear Scraps (where you can order whichever letters you want, to spell out a word book of your choice), is HOW DO YOU COVER THE CHIPBOARD LETTER? Now, for some of us, this is second nature already but for some, it's a daunting task, especially since the back half of each letter isn't necessarily THERE, if you know what I mean. You're making the left-hand-side of the letter as you go.

So....I worked on one here at home this week and took pictures as I went to show you MY process, which may be different than your own, but it's definitely one that works.

I'll start with an A. It's a great letter because it's symmetrical. First step....flip the letter over backwards and place it on your paper. The right-hand-side of the letter will be easy to X-acto knife around, it's the "hidden" left-hand-side that's difficult sometimes. So, flip the letter over and Cut around HALF of it....in this case, the outside edge, the outside "leg" and the inside hole in the A. It should then look like this...I forgot to pop the center out, but it is cut, trust me :)

Now, flip your letter over the right way (it's not attached to your paper in any way yet). Use the 1/2 letter that you've already cut, as a guide - especially in this case, the hole in the center of your A. From here, you can now use your X-acto knife to cut along the right-hand-side of the letter as you normally would and when you're done, the A should fit perfectly on your chipboard page, defining the letter.

OK, let's try something that's NOT symmetrical. How about an L.

The back half of the L is also not defined in a chipboard word book. But...you can predict what it will be like, by looking at the front of the L. Again, I started by laying my letter backwards on the paper I wanted to use. I'm assuming that the top of the letter will be symmetrical, so I cut the outside edge the same as the inside edge of the L. And, I cut about 3/4 of the way down the length of the L as well.


Then, I flipped my L over. So now it's up-side-down and backwards. I'm working on the bottom outside edge of my L, but using the top, inside edge of my letter page. Make sense? When I'm done this cut, I'll have a straight line cut, with top and bottom "knobs" or whatever you want to call them, like my L is supposed to have on it's left-hand-side.


My next step is to turn my letter the right way around (forward, and right-side-up). I'm eyeballing about how much width I want at the top of my L - see? And then I'm going to cut/trace down the right-hand-side of the L itself completing the letter.




One more show-and-tell....the letter Y. I have to do this one because it's a little tricky. Flip your chipboard book page over backwards so you use the right-hand-side of the Y to cut the left-hand-side first.



Now, before you cut the opening out of the Y, slide your chipboard page over slightly so that the left-hand-side "leg" of your Y will be thicker than the right-hand-side. Trust me on this. This particular font that Clear Scraps uses for Clearly My Albums has a heavier leg on one side on a few letters....the skinny leg on both sides of your Y would NOT look right. Now cut the opening in the Y.


And as a final step, flip your page back over the right way and finish cutting the right-hand-side of the Y.


So, there you have a few of my tips for covering chipboard (or acrylic) letters and getting exactly the letter you want. Here's my semi-finished project with all the page fronts done with Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend (ooooooh....aaaaaaah....) and the letters all done with a creamy ledger paper from the same pack.


If you have any questions about what I've done, or need advice....email me - I love to chat. And don't forget my contest going on this week. Leave me a comment telling me some of your favourite new CHA releases (like The Boyfriend, hello people!!) and I'll pick someone who will win some Clear Scraps!

Thanks!
Cathy