Spring Garland

I bought some wooden shapes at the dollar store not too long ago and they have been nagging at me to make them cute so I finally did something with them. They didn't quite turn out the way that I had planned, but you just gotta make the best of things sometimes. I started by mod-podging (is that a word??) some cardstock onto the shapes and then ripped the edges, just to give it some kind of color and to begin the weathered look I was going for.  Then I embellished each letter in various ways. 
I kind of just let the designs be flexible and played with them until I liked the way they looked. 

Then I attached them to some stretchy ribbon type material (I actually think it was technically waistband type elastic,) and it was a pale yellowish beige color. I loosely wound some ivory tulle around the shapes and the elastic ribbon. I thought it looked great! Until... I tried to hang it up and it was so dang heavy that the letters kept tumbling forward and then twisting around. I found my poster putty and ended up having to use that to attach to the mantel. I was relieved that it decided to stay up after that. I am pleased with the way it turned out. It is a nice little touch to the spring mantel. In retrospect, I probably could have achieved the same effect with cardstock flower backgrounds. Oh well. You never know until you try.