The Laundry Monster is always eating single socks, and it just seems wrong to throw them away. Now, you have a way to put them to good use by putting them towards freeing indentured House Elves. This is perfect for any member of S.P.E.W. or a conscientious witch or wizard who wants to go green and do some good.

Step 1: Materials

For this project you will need:

- Mod Podge

- Glitter (I chose silver)

- Painter's tape

- 2 colors of paint ( I chose navy and black)

- Ribbon (I chose thin black)

- Clothes pins

- A hammer

- Scissors

-EXACTO Knife

- Wood hanger (if your plaque does not come with one)

- Piece of wood

- Printer

- "Free Dobby" PDF

I made a PDF of the exact template I used. If you'd like yours to say something else, just Google "Harry Potter Font" and a lot of websites will let you do a preview of what you'd like to write (I didn't want to download the font). I saved that as an image (through print screening and then cropping in Paint), then pasted that into a Word document and sized it. See how nice I am that I'm not making YOU do that? (Though all of you are so clever I'm sure you've found an easier way)

I had a lot of these items, but they can all be purchased at your local craft and hardware stores. I'd say this cost about $10 to make, depending on what you already have on hand, and took roughly 30 minutes total work time not including drying times.

Free.Dobby.pdf
Download

Step 2: Add Hanger (Optional)

I got my wood plaque at the thrift store and it didn't come with a hanger, so I had to add one. Measure your plaque and center the hanger then attach it securely. It's important that you add the hanger BEFORE painting or you might damage your paint job.

Step 3: Paint the Plaque

I chose navy blue and black. I decided to do black on the border because that way if I messed up with the main portion of the plaque, the black would cover it up. I applied two coats of each color of paint because I likes how the colors looked. I used acrylic paint because it's cheap and dries quickly.

Step 4: Create Stencil

This is the most time consuming part of the whole project, so put on an episode of "House of Cards" and get to cutting.

A couple things to remember:

- Cut out the interior of the letters first, makes it easier.

- Save the interior of the letters because you'll need them for the stencil

If these tips aren't clear, take a look at the photos, I think they illustrate the point more clearly.

Step 5: Apply Stencil and Lettering

Use the painter's tape to secure the stencil to your plaque. Carefully, coat the interior of the letters with a layer of Mod Podge using a thin paint brush.

Sprinkle glitter over it, shake off the glitter, and remove the stencil.

Freak out because it looks terrible and despair at your inferior crafting skills (Just me? Okay ::see photo 4::) This is why applying the Mod Podge to only the interior of the letters instead of doing sweeping strokes, it helps keep the letters neat and saves time on the clean up in the next step.

Use the EXACTO knife to clean up the edges of the letters and marvel at your crafting prowess.

Step 6: Coat With Mod Podge

Let the glitter dry on the letters for about 10 minutes or until it's pretty secure. Get a HUGE GLOB of Mod Podge on your brush and apply all over the plaque. Using the globs helps to secure the glitter in place and also helps spread just little pieces of it out for the neat "magic" effect you see in the finished product.

Step 7: Add Ribbon

I was playing on Lazy Level Expert and decided to just tape the ribbon on. Worked just fine, so score one for me!

Step 8: Hang and Admire

I decided to hang this in the laundry room so I won't ever misplace a sock that could be used to liberate a poor, oppressed House Elf. Now everyone who comes into your house will know what a great person you are, and possibly be impressed by your devotion to the cause!

If you make one of these (esp. with different colors), I'd LOVE to see it and would really like if you shared a picture in the comments!