DIY: Kid's room decor for less than $5

Hi, My name is Stacy and I am an HGTV addict. I love to decorate, kitchen, master bedroom, kids rooms...whatever. My room decor as a kid consisted of a few NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) and Michael Jordan posters, I am sure my mom didn't lose any sleep about how to decorate my room.  But I yearn for more in my kids rooms.  If I could afford to I would probably go to Pottery Barn Kids or Land of Nod and just pick everything from page 52 and have a super cute room for my girls, but Ikea and DIY decor fits my budget a bit better. 

When we moved our youngest from her crib we bought her several pieces from the Mammut series from IKEA. The cute, whimsy style with IKEA durability and price was exactly what we needed. However, there wasn't a great selection of accessories to go with it though so I had to get creative.  This is one of the items I came up with:

It literally took less than an hour and 5 bucks to create this masterpiece! Here is what I used:

• A piece of 8x10 craft wood, I found mine at Wal-Mart but have seen them at Michael's too. These set me back about $2.50 each. 
• Craft paint, I already had the pink and red from another project but you can find it at Wal-Mart, Michael's, Hobby Lobby...ect for a buck or two each. 
• Those super cute animals came from the craft section at Wal-Mart for only 27 cents each! They had a great selection. They are priced about the same at Michael's with an even better selection! 
• The letters were printed on my home printer using a fun font and different colors. 
• Coordinating color of ribbon, I already had mine but it was less than $2 a roll. 
• My handy dandy tub of Mod Podge. 

It was a pretty simple process. First, I gave the wood pieces (I used 3) a couple coats of each color of paint.  While the paint was drying I printed my letters and cut them out. A few hours later, when my paint was dry, I laid out the letters and animals so I could get a good visual and make sure everything was still looking super cute.  Next, I applied mod podge to adhere the letters, remember the process from our DIY Anthropologie letters. When the letters were dry I applied another layer of mod podge to the entire front of the wood so the texture wouldn't be different on the letters as opposed to the rest of the front.  Then, I used a dab of hot glue to attach my animals and the ribbon to the back.  If you don't want the ribbon look you can pick up a picture mounting kit and attach hangers to the back instead.
Voila! Cute, cheap and in our case educational (our daughter was 2 and still learning her animals when we did this project) room decor!

We used animals but this project could easily be changed to fit any room.  Michael's and Wal-Mart had a good selection of these wooden pieces, everything from animals to trains, sports, princesses! Or you could do 4 or 5 letters on each piece and do the alphabet, or print some pictures that match your kids decor, let your creative inner child guide you! If your child is older you can even get them involved, go ahead, get crafty!

Here is a looksy at Reagan's room with our finished product:

and another angle (toward the right side):