
We were watching Sesame Street the other day when we noticed a simple, black, framed alphabet hanging on the wall in a skit. It wasn't fancy or designed in the least, but we kind of liked it. So we decided to see what we could do using only Word, a black and white printer and 15 minutes. Our typewriter themed alphabet is above - click through to see two more.
There are so many beautiful alphabet prints and posters available, but maybe you don't have one in the budget right now or perhaps your baby arrived early and you'd like to get something up on the wall today even as a stand-in until you pick something prettier.
It almost seems silly to write out instructions for this, but here we go:
- Open Word and type out the alphabet. (We used all caps, but try lowercase or a combination i.e. "Aa")
- Choose a font that appeals to you. If you only have the basics, there are lots of places to download free fonts. Our favorite is dafont.com
- Fiddle with the margins, font size and justification until you get the rows spaced how you like them. (You're never going to get them laid out perfectly using Word so this is not a project for perfectionists.)
- Optional: add a simple image like our typewriter from your clip art or from the web.
- Print (if you have a color printer and aren't out of ink like we were, all the better)
- Slap into a frame and hang.
- Voila! (or, as our friend says, Viola!)
In case you're curious, the fonts we used (top to bottom) are: American Typewriter, Rosewood and Aubrey. If you make your own, we'd love to see - upload it to Flickr and tag it with "Ohdeedoh."
(Dimly lit photos by Carrie McBride)
Great idea!
view stlprintchick's profile
Fun! I just might do this.
view hyzen's profile
Hmm, so cool. Easy art. Cheap, too so that when we get tired of it, no guilt at all, no need to try to sell it on Ebay!
view r8ermom's profile
Can you post the typewriter page for download for those of us who don't know how to place clip art?
Would love to just download and print it.
Thanks!
view yourmom's profile
These are great! I also love the fox print in the last photo....where can I find that ?
view boujani's profile
Does anyone know where that little tree stump in the first picture is from?!
view AmyB1's profile
I love alphabet and numbers prints and have created one that has silhouette animals with each alphabet in an 11 X 17 size at my etsy store under gracehesterdesigns.etsy.com.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25701352
I know you can also DIY it per this article but for those looking for an archival keepsake to pass on years after, and with interesting modern animal graphics on it, please do consider the options available on etsy.
view gracehesterdesigns's profile
I love this! What a great, inexpensive idea.
view lovedogranch's profile
Glad you liked these. They really only took a few minutes so you could probably come up with something great with even a few more minutes.
Your Mom (and anyone else) - email me at carrie@apartmenttherapy.com and I'd be happy to send you any of them you like.
Boujani - the fox print is one of Camilla Engman's. I bought mine as a set from Twig, but I don't see them in her shop anymore. Camilla used to offer them on her site, but they are out of stock (http://www.camillaengman.com/misc/shop/tryck/redhood.htm). Sorry!
AmyB1 - the stump was purchased a few years ago from Small Stump on Etsy. I don't see them in her shop now, but you could email her. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=73100
Hope that helps! Carrie
view CMcB's profile
Thank you for helping out the graphically layout-challenged. :)
view yourmom's profile
This is great. I love those prints too.
view jancola's profile
Those are terrific, Carrie. Thanks for sharing this.
view stephka's profile
Carrie - Where did you purchase your white frames? Thx!
view cgc09's profile
Those look like the frames I've gotten at Target. They're a great deal and work well.
view flickchick's profile
Thanks for sharing this.
Those look Target frames--we have them and they work well.
view flickchick's profile
I thought this was just the coolest idea, had to try it...
One helpful tip is that you can adjust the spacing a little bit in Word by adding a space in between letters if they look too close together, and having those spaces be in a much smaller font size.
I'm still looking for a frame, there is the perfect spot for this in our hallway.
Psychedelic Alphabet Graphic, on flickr
view fjorlief's profile
All the frames are from Ikea (which is annoying news if you don't live near one). Target's are probably similar. The white ones are in the Ribba series which are my favorites The red and black ones are only a buck or two.
Fjorlief - very cool! And you've given me the idea to print black on colored paper which I have (still too lazy to track down our color ink which is hard to find).
view CMcB's profile
i thought of this a month ago while looking at ABC prints on etsy.
never used flickr so here goes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39249414@N06/3608624348/
i've changed a few of the graphics so they're all animals, but too lazy to gap another screenshot. have yet to get it printed but the plan is to have the 16x20 image printed on 18x22 paper.
view jisforgiraffe's profile