ABC Letter Substitutions:

(Use small stickers like hearts, flowers and stars to cover splices. Use the same stickers elsewhere on the page so it will be less obvious. Punctuation mark stickers also can be used to alter a letter.)

A - use an upside down V and any other straight piece of another letter

B - use an R by trimming it a little and putting a sticker to cover the missing part
B - use a D and add a sticker where needed

C - form it from an O, G, Q, a zero, a six or an upside down D

D - use a C, O, G or Q and add a straight piece from a letter you don't think you will use
D - trim away part of the B and use a sticker to cover where needed

E - use an F and the bottom of an L - or just put an L on top of an F
E - trim off part of the B

F - trim off some of the E, B, P or R

G - add a straight piece to the C

H - use two I's and a small straight piece

I - trim a little off the bottom of the "J" and place a sticker over it.
I - use the number 1 and add a sticker where needed - you may want to turn it upside down

J - trim the I a little and add stickers as needed

K - trim off part of the R and add stickers as needed

L - trim off part of an E

M - use an upside down W or two upside down V's

N - use a Z on its side

O - Trim the "Q" to be an "O".
O - use the zero

P - trim off the R or B

Q - add a piece to the O or zero

R - use a "B" and the "stem" of the "L" or "I".
R - use a "P" and add a piece from a letter you don't think you will use (like 'x')

S - carefully trim the 5, 8 or "and" symbol or use the "squiggle" from the classic ABC's

T - add a piece as need to the I, L or number one

U - trim off part of the O, Q or zero

V - use part of the W, A or X

W - use 2 V's or an upside down M

X - use 2 lower case v's - one right side up, the other upside down.

Y - attach the top half of an X to the lower half of an I or a T. Trim the width where the two letters join so that the seam is not noticeable (or put a small sticker there).
Y - place a sticker so that it appears to completely cover the lower part of a "Y". But use half of an "X" instead of a "Y". One "X" will make two "Y's"!

Z - use an N on its side

Lower Case ABC Letter Substitutions

a - cut off stem of "q" or trim down a "d"

c - cut out middle of "e"

d - flip a lower case "p"

e - fit a piece into a "c"

i - use upside down "!", or stem of lower case "u" and a period for the dot

j - flipped and trimmed "f" plus a period for the dot

l - cut off hump of "h" or "k" ( might be able to alter "b", "d", or "t" to work)

m - "n" plus extra 'hump' from another "n", "h", or "u".

n - cut off a hump of the "m" or use an upside down "u"

p - flip a lower case "d"

q - flip a lower case "b"

r - trim "n", "m", or "u"

s - fit two quote marks together to form s

v - trim "w"

w - two "v's" (second one may need trimming)

Using Leftover ABC Stickers

• Put ABC/123 sticker stencil parts over photos spelling out names of people or places (good for vacations). Cut around the letter outline or cut into blocks (quicker).
• Mix several colors of leftover letters together. Arrange them until you have the right letters from each color. (e.g. "EASTER" in pink, blue, and yellow. You don't have a blue "A" but have a yellow "A" - so use yellow as the second color.)
• Make rainbow titles by alternating letter stickers as follows: bright pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. For a coordinating border that go around the page with hearts or stars in the same color order, repeating around the page.
• Adhere the stencil of the letters to colored paper. Cut out each letter and adhere to a square of coordinating paper. (This looks great with dark green on dark green gingham.)
• Use a sticker or sticker composition in place of a letter you may be missing.
• Use the rarely used letters like "Q", "X", and "Z" to make building blocks for baby pages.
• Use leftover "Q's" for a "Quips and Quotes" page - favorite expressions or cute things your children say.
• Scatter "Q's" on the page and journal the most unusual questions your children ask.
• Use several "Z's" for a person who is sleeping (negative "Z's" also work).
• Use extra "Xs" for kisses.
• The centers from letters and numbers make dots, confetti, raindrops, etc.
• Randomly place letters on a sheet of paper cut lengthwise in half. Cut in half lengthwise, and then each strip again in half, for four 1" by 11" borders!
• Align ABC stickers on wax paper with the top third of the letter off the edge. Or use a design line backer sheet for a quick and easy way to line up your titles without a lot of repositioning. You can also use the backing from the tape runner.

With "happy" and "merry" and names ending in" Y" there are never enough of them.

I made a page with "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" in black letters across the top and down the right side. The letters were tilted informally. I used cowboy boots, hat, and small brown horse stickers to decorate around the letters. I put one horse between the "Y" on "country" and the "b" on "boy". I let the horse's feet overlap the "B" slightly and the horses back completely cover the lower part of the "Y". The secret is that it was not a "Y" - it was the top of an "X". By also having some other stickers overlap parts of other letters it isn't obvious that I didn't really use a "Y". (I used a piece from the lower part of the "X" for the apostrophe in "I'm").

Another way to overcome a missing letter is to fake it with coordinating stickers. For instance, if you don't have enough E's to spell Easter, use an F and use a line of flowers where the bottom of the E should be. Also do it for a few other letters so it looks intentional. Use P for R or B and the top of the X for Y, etc. Another ides is to put two I's with a hot dog in between to make an N, a salad bowl for an O, and a Y out of hot dog links. This works with all kinds of stickers - toys, picnic, camping, Christmas. Use a watermelon half for the "U" in "summer" and an apple for the "O" in "New York".

 Using 123 Stickers

(Compiled by Audra in MS)

• Use as borders for School Days pages
• Put one number over the other with an edge showing for a shadow effect.
• Use the title "How Many Days 'til Christmas?!" The border will be numbers starting at 49, 48, 47, 46...Use pictures of the children making a paper chain or something else preparing for Christmas. You can skip numbers and use...in between.
• Do a center stage with numbers around the box of the age your child is in several miscellaneous pictures.
• To help teach her two-year -old nephew to count, Nancy T. created a Sentiments Album counting book. Each page has one number from 1 to 10, 20, and 100. The pages feature photos of family members, stickers, and die-cuts. Example: nephew and his 3 cousins in a pool titled "4 Crazy Cousins".
• Use the fast formulas with the circle or star in each corner, with numbers for a birthday.
• Place leftover ABC/123 stickers randomly on 10x12 paper. Cut into 2-inch strips for borders or into triangles. Or use it to mat a photo (great for large school portraits).
• For a family reunion layout do a border "10 cousins, 5 aunts, 5 uncles, 4 grandparents, 2 great aunts, etc.
• Do a final page in a baby or child album documenting the time periods. "2 months," (with picture) "5 months," etc. or "2 years," "3 years old" etc.
• Make an S out of an 8, use zeros for O, and don't forget, 6's are just upside-down 9's!