Ballard Typewriter Key Inspiration for Cheapity Cheap Cheap Cheap

Yay it's Thursday :)  I'm finally getting around to making my own Ballard-Inspired Typewriter Keys.  I saw these in the catalog in, eh, December or so and made a little note to copy use them as inspiration. 

I've seen some other, inspired, versions out there and I decided that it was high time to create my own.  Now my challenges are - I need much smaller circles for the space I have in mind and my budget is considerably smaller than the $300 these babies would cost me (who pays that!?!)  Enter these from Walmart:

These little guys have about a 1 1/2 inch radius (wow, who knew I remembered geometry!) so each one is roughly 3 inches across.  And although they have the lovely basketball design (which is raised), the backs of them are a clean slate!  Oh yeah, and the BEST part...they were 25 cents apiece.  They set me back a cool $1.50.  And now for the letters (thank you JoAnn's) for $4.50 (anyone else think this is a little pricey for little wooden letters??). 

I painted the backside of the basketballs with black spray paint (gloss finish), nd then I painted the letters with cream spray paint (satin finish):

Now, it looks fine like this, but I was looking for a little more pizzaz...modge podge here I come!  I took some scraps of scrapbook paper from my stash (does the word stash make anyone else think of moustaches?  No?  Ok, must just be me) and did the old trace once, modge podge twice routine...waited for them to dry...hot-glued them to the disks...aaaaand we're done:

I'm thinking of mounting them to a nice piece of distressed wood or maybe a little beadboard...but until then I love 'em as is :)

So let's do a final cost breakdown shall we:

• Round (previously basketball) discs from Walmart: $1.50
• Letters from JoAnn's: $4.50  (I really need to find a cheaper source)
• Paint from Walmart (because I was out of black spray paint): $3.50
• Scrapbook Paper: $0 (on hand)

Grand Total: $9.50  Saving $290...PRICELESS!