Happy New Year!  Hope everyone enjoyed a great time with friends and family.

I’d like to share one of my favorite projects I did for the holidays.  It was inspired by the quote, “Create that which you wish existed” after a little trip to Home Depot back in October for some Halloween costume supplies.  As soon as I walked in, I saw this…

I am a huge Eiffel Tower fan (we went to Paris for our honeymoon).  What I am not a fan of at my own house (although I love visiting other extravagant displays ) are Christmas lights.  Seriously, we have the old school big bulbs out on our house and that is it!  But I saw this and wondered if I was crazy thinking that I HAD TO have it.  I texted a few friends this photo and they agreed that I did.  They asked how big it was and I casually replied 4 or 5 feet.

I ended up having to order it from Home Depot online.  Apparently there were other people that had to have this too (really?!?!?!).  I was quite excited when it arrived, but put it aside until after Thanksgiving.  Not being familiar with assembling outdoor yard lighting, let’s just say that this ended up being a labor of love and a strong argument to keep this an only child.  AND, it was a little taller than I thought – nearly 7 feet!

I was a little concerned that it might be slightly out of place on my porch.  How can I make a 6’8″ Eiffel Tower look like it belongs on my porch for Christmas?

It was at that point I realized I needed to go with French Christmas theme and coordinate it with the wreaths on my door.  I am pretty sure that involves needing a glittery “Joyeux Noel”.  You can find nearly every other glittery holiday word/phrase imaginable, but not that one.  Time to take, “Create that which you wish existed” to heart and make my own.

Project List

• Black corrugated board (I thought this would be more durable than anything paper outside that would get damp)
• White vinyl
• Cricut and Gypsy
• Box cutter
• Mod Podge
• Silver Glitter
• Paint Brush

I started by selecting a script font (Gypsy Font) and welding the letters together on my Gypsy.  I then attached the vinyl to the corrugated board.

The next step was the most tedious of all as I used the box cutter to trim around the vinyl so that my words were free standing.

I figured that it did not have to be prefect around the edges as it was going to be covered with glitter.

Then I went outside and covered up my work surface to minimize the mess.  I used the same technique of mixing glitter into the Mod Podge, painting it on and pouring additional glitter onto the item that I used for the tennis shoes I covered with red glitter.

I was especially impressed with the idea I came up with to hold my words off the work surface, so they don’t end up stuck to it and I can get a little more of the sides covered.  I cut off water bottles at the same length to use as risers.

I did not end up worrying about covering the sides too much as I figured it would blend in against the greenery of the wreaths.

I patiently let it dry before I used wire to attach it to the wreaths.  This was another reason the corrugated plastic was a GREAT idea because I would run the wire through the “tunnels” in between the layers of plastic and not have to have my wire show on the front of the words.  I added some crazy metallic bows, and was pretty happy with how it all came out!