I made a very simple, extremely cheap and satisfying project that you can make for yourself or give as a last minute gift. I made a very small board, but slightly bigger ones can be more fun and easy to make, because of the letter cutting process that needed extra patience lol. The reason to make it was simply because I like hacking stuff from decor stores and up cycling stuff I have at home already. And additionally, there's always some curiosity to find out if I can actually make these things and if they'll look/work fine. The quote is by Baruch Spinoza, by the way.

Supplies

You'll need:

A frame
Paper for the faux felt base (any type of cardboard or watercolor paper it's recommended)
Paper for the letters (the color must contrast the one with the paint you will use for the base
Acrylic paint (any color plus black and white)
Any font reference you can find (you can see a book that has the entire alphabet, look up some images of nice alphabets on your search engine of choice, or refer to the one on step 5 of this instructable.
Tools: glue or tape, cutting knife and scissors, ruler, pencil, paint mixers, a cup for water for when you are painting, paint brushes, any towel or napkins in case things get messy, eraser, any flat surface you can work on (I worked on top of a folder)

Step 1: Measuring the Base

Trace the back part of the frame using a pencil, and then cut and try to fit it in the frame (you may need to cut out extra millimeters).

Step 2: Measuring the Faux Felt Creases

Using a ruler and pencil, trace parallel lines on the base, I left 3 millimeters between each line. Try to use some pressure with the pencil, because you will need to use the lines as a guide on top of the first acrylic paint layer.

Step 3: Painting the Base

Using the base color you chose (if you want the board to be black or any dark color, i recommend using a slightly lighter version of this color; this way, the black or very-dark-gray lines will be visible and the faux felt effect will work), try to paint the entire piece of paper evenly. If the pencil lines are showing, don't worry, the idea is to paint over them as you'll notice on the next step.

Step 4: Gentle Dark Parallel Lines

Mix 5 parts black, 1 part white to use dark gray paint for the parallel lines. Try not using too much pressure as you paint this, because this will ensure it looks like a felt letterboard. if you use too much pressure, it may end up look like a striped shirt lol!

Step 5: Choosing a Quote, Tracing, Cutting and Shaping Letters

I recommend for your first experience to choose a very brief quote. I used leftover watercolor paper because it has a nice white-cream color, and it's thick so on the frame it will look like the actual plastic letters I'm trying to imitate.You don't need to be very technical about this part, just try to draw as many rectangles (all of them the same size) as letters your quote contains. Then, draw the letters/symbols/numbers using this or any alphabet reference. Ideally, use a pencil, so you can erase any mistakes and erase the pencil bits off the letters too if you want. I kept my cut out letters on a little container because they're very light and sometimes even my breathing would make them fly away! As an extra step so it looks extra cute, I compared the letters I obtained from this process with the plastic ones, and those have rounded edges. So I used a very small pair of scissors and rounded all of the edges. It was tiring but definitely worth it.

Step 6: Placing Your Letters on the Base

Make sure that the base is completely dry, then place your letters in place to make sure they quote looks nice and clear. If you have big letters and you want to change the quote in the future, you could attach a small loop of paper tape -the kind made for delicate surfaces- . Since my letters were too small for that, I decided to just glue them on lightly after choosing my letter placement. So then I had to wait a few minutes for the glue to dry.