Thursday, September 24, 2009

Blocks


If you've been to any sort of craft show you've seen the blocks that have letters on them. And most of the time they sell for like 5-10 dollars, depending on the amount of blocks of course. I've always wanted to make some myself but thought it would be to expensive or to much work. Man was I wrong! Okay first of all if your crafty or even if your not this was so easy to do. It was a little time consuming but I was doing 11 blocks. And can I say cheapest project ever. I'll go over the cost at the end. So here we go, I'm so happy with how these turned out! I didn't want to give them away...

First thing I did was measure out my my blocks. I bought a 2x4x10 and had home depot cut it down into 3rds, mainly so I could get to fit in my car. (And they can cut any wood down to a foot, and for free, just an FYI) I was surprised when i discovered a 2x4 isn't really 4 inches, more like 3 1/2... So I cut mine 3 1/2 x 3 1/2.


I used a Chop saw to do the cutting. Luckily my brother left all his tools over from when he did the trim in my sons room. I figured I can use them, I'll just try my best not to break anything...


After I cut them down, they were all splintered....As you can see, but I was planing on sanding them down any ways to soften the edges up.


Now the fun stuff. Paint! I like painting, I don't know why but I do. I don't like painting houses but small things, oh and no details just solids colors...I know I'm weird, anyways....I just painted them all the same color, and it matched the paper I was using.

While my blocks were drying I cut out all my paper. I cut my squares of paper 3 1/4 x 3 1/4. I then inked the edges. Cut out and assembled the letters, and decorated my squares of paper before adhering them to the blocks.

After my paint was dry, I sanded down all the edges. Just to give them a worn look.
And then glued my paper down using "clear tacky glue" And TADA all finished!

The 2x4x10 only cost $2.48. And if my math is right you can get 33 blocks out of the 10 feet. So you could do the alphabet! But anyways I know I haven't posting much, but I recently found out I'm pregnant, and the morning/all day sickness isn't helping my crafty side at all. Hopefully only a few more weeks of this and then I can get back to myself.

Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

Rachael and Jeff Downs said...

Very very very cute...I LOVE the ones you gave me...I wish I had more time to be creative. You always have the best ideas :)

Trisha said...

Those are really cute. Do you use any kind of sealer on top of it o not? I always think I have to use like mod podge on top to make sure it holds up well. But I dunno! They're cute! Oh ya, you should totally try the canisters that I did, if you already have some. They were so easy, and I got the fabric at hobby lobby for like $2! Hopefully you feel better soon!

Jen Western said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jen @ Just for Rachel said...

So cute!! I love them! More importantly, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Everyone around me is having a baby... maybe I should take a hint.

Holly Jones said...

way cute!