scrabble tile crafts
make, create and celebrate with scrabble themed crafts!
Hi Scrabble-Lover!
If you've stumbled upon my website, I would guess (like me) you love the board game scrabble! Or you have a scrabble loving friend and you are looking to make a unique one-of-a-kind gift.
Scrabble, the board game adored by word-lovers worldwide, not only provides oodles of entertainment, but also the raw material for unique arts and crafts projects. The smooth wood, square shape and simple lettering begs to be released from the game board out into every day life…and to be enjoyed and celebrated with scrabble themed crafts!
The website is intended to give a overview of the many crafts and artwork you can make with these beautiful tiles!
PS. From time to time, I might add random bits of scrabble info, trivia or neat stuff to make you smile!
scrabble, love, loss, and presents from strangers
Last night as I was working away doing my homework UPS stopped by to deliver me a package. I was quite puzzled because I hadn't ordered anything recently. I actually came quite close to refusing the package...until the driver opened the packing slip and asked me "Do you know anything about a scrabble typography board game?"
"What? Well, yes in fact! I do!" I immediately signed for it and hustled inside. Grabbed the scissors and busted that box open!
What was inside? Scrabble Typography Limited Edition 1200 - sold by Winning Solutions.
No biggie! Ha! Only the most beautiful, deluxe, gorgeous scrabble game in the history of the world! Did I mention the design focuses on typography? I'd found it online while researching for this website.
After ohhing and ahhing I started to wonder, "Where did this come from?". I was a bit worried that I had been shopping in my sleep!
Then it came to me "Of course, its from my mom, for my upcoming birthday!". Only my mom would buy me such a gorgeous piece of art.
I immediately called my mom for confirmation. No answer. So I popped on to facebook to gloat about my great present to my friends. This was my post:
So I finally talked to my mom this morning...and this is when the story goes from cool to WOW!
When I started this website, I asked my mom to review the content and the links. Like a great mom, she complied. As some of you may know, one of the random links at the bottom of the page is to the Scrabble Typography game. After seeing the game, my mom decided it would be a fantastic graduation present for me - since I am a scrabble loving typography nerd (graduating in April 2012).
She contacted the manufacturer, Winning Solutions, to purchase it. She was informed the game was so popular that it was sold out and she was added to a waiting list.
You don't know my mom, but anyone who does, knows she always finds the perfect gift. And this was, THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ME! She decided to email Winning Solutions, to find out where on the list she was and if there was a chance of getting it before grad.
In that email my mom relayed how she felt this would be a fantastic present for me, because - did I mention - I love scrabble and I am a huge typography nerd!
She also happen to mention in the email that my husband, Jordan, and I regularly played the game before his deployment to Afghanistan in February 2007. In actuality we played right up until we jumped in the jeep to go to the base to drop him off for the bus to the airport for his overseas flight (after we took care of some other "important pre-deployment business" lol).
My dear husband Jordan, was killed in an IED explosion just outside Kandahar Afghanistan five months later. Although I love the game, without my Jordan, that ended any scrabble playing for me. A fact my mom knew.
Why my mom was emailing random strangers about me playing scrabble with Jordan, I'm not quite sure, but she did. I have discovered in our grief we sometimes reach out to strangers when things remind us of the loved one we have lost.
Within hours of sending the email to Winning Solutions (to find out where on the waiting list she was) my mom got this email back from a guy named Jonathan:
My mom didn't say a word to me! And then last night UPS delivered, from Jonathan of Winning Solutions, this beautiful scrabble typography game to me...
What amazing kindness and generosity from a stranger! I am absolutely stunned. This has reminded me, that you never know where kindness might come from or what form it will take.
I had no idea when I wrote on my facebook last night "If only somebody would own up to sending it to me!" that it was indeed a complete stranger that mailed it to me!
I may not be ready for a new life partner, but I think I'm ready for a new scrabble partner - thanks to the kindness of a stranger and the love of a mother.
Who's ready to play?
{Want to buy your own deluxe scrabble typography game? Visit Winning Solutions here.}
featured craft
free play replica scrabble game
framed board with magnet letters
How do I make this? Learn how here!
want to see more crafts? select your area of interest:
do you have a scrabble craft you would like share?
I sure would enjoying see it…please email me a selection of high quality photos with crafting instructions to my idea. We thank you for your submission, however not all crafts will be able to be featured on the website.
scrabble Video - grandma vs grandson!
This video was too priceless not to share with my Scrabble loving visitors!
crafting and scrabble questions…
What's this scrabble craft tile website about?
Where do I find extra scrabble tiles for my art project?
What's the history behind scrabble…
what's this scrabble craft tile website about?
The scrabble tile crafts website offers a variety of crafts and projects, from beginner to advanced using the scrabble tiles, trays and boards. Not sure if you're ready for a full weekend of crafting? We've got 5-minute crafts too! To help you out, I've divided the projects into three categories:
- Décor - Scrabble crafts for your home…time to decorate
- Replica - Full scrabble game replica's
- Food & Party - Scrabble crafts for snacks…yummy
And for the non-crafty scrabble-loving person I haven't left you behind either – check out the secret link at the bottom of the website (under random - shopping on esty or ebay).
where do I find extra scrabble tiles for my art project?
Depending on the scale of your scrabble art project you may require as little as two extra tiles (letters) or thousands of tiles. The following are a few places where you might be able to locate some extras:
- friends and neighbors who are no longer playing their game
- thrift stores
- garage sales
- rummage sales
- antique stores
- craigslist
- freecycle
- ebay
- esty
Remember when searching online use the both the word "letters" and "tiles". If you just want specific letters you can contact Hasbro Customer Service.
PS. Aren't scrabble tile crafts great? Your re-using and recycling all that beautiful wood that might otherwise go in the landfill!
what's the history behind scrabble…
Alfred Mosher Butts (an out of work architect during the Great Depression), decided he wanted to build a board game. After completing market research he concluded that existing games fell into three areas: number games (dice/bingo), move games (chess/checkers) and word games (anagrams). However Butts wanted to create a game that combined vocabulary skills - similar to that of a crossword with a element of chance. He named the game "Lexico" (Lexiko) and it was later changed to "Criss-Cross-Words". Butts used his drafting equipment to draw the original board for Criss-Cross-Words and craftily he duplicated it using his blueprinting techniques. They were then glued onto existing checkerboards.
Butts first attempts to sell the game were unsuccessful. However once meeting up with James Brunot, an avid game lover, the chances of success for the scrabble game were looking brighter. Butts soon decided to selll the rights to "Criss-Cross-Words" to James for royalties (based on each game sold).
Brunot purchased a school house Dodgington, Connecticut and changed it into a factory. He and his team were able to manufactured 12 games per hour. During this time Brunot made some changes to the board layout and renamed the game to "Scrabble". During the first four years of production they made 2400 sets however had an overall financial loss of $450.
Luck changed in 1952 when the Scrabble was "discovered" by the Jack Straus (President of famed New York department store Macy's) while on vacation. When he returned back to New York he was surprised to discover that Macy's did not carry the game! He immediately placed a large order and vowed within a year, "everyone had to have one."
Brunot quickly determined he could not produce enough for the growing interest. He appealed to Selchow and Righter Company, Milton Bradley Company and Parker Brothers who all rejected the game. Finally Brunot sold manufacturing rights in the US and Canadian to Selchow and Righter Company. Suddenly Jack Straus proclmation that "everyone had to have one" caused stories to appear in newspapers and magazines and on TV. Selchow and Righter Company had to bump production to meet the overwhelming demand for the "new game" and sold four million games in their second year of production!
In 1972 Brunot, sold exclusive rights to all Scrabble products and the trademark in the United States and Canada to Selchow and Righter. In 1986, Selchow and Righter sold the game to Coleco (who soon after went bankrupt). The company's assets, including Scrabble, was then purchased by Hasbro. Scrabble is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc. in the United States and Canada. Mattel holds the trademark elsewhere.
why do some letters have more points than others?
Butts examined the front page of the New York Times paper to determine how frequently each English letter was used. The more often it was used, the lower weight he gave the character. His basic cryptographic analysis and original tile distribution has remained the same since 1938.
is scrabble that popular?
To meet the growing demand scrabble is now produced in 29 different languages and sold in 121 countries world-wide. It is estimated that 1/3 of North American homes own a copy of the game! Is it that popular you ask? Well, your at www.scrabble-tile-crafts.com so you must be a scrabble lover yourself!
References:
Hasbro/Mattel Website "Scrabble History"
National Scrabble Club "History of Scrabble (PDF)"
Slate "The Case of the Stolen Blanks"