Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Easy Name Blocks and give away!

Here is a sneak Peek of the craft . . .


but before I get into that . . . I want to say this . . .I would love to have some followers . . .(thanks to the two of you loyal friends who are already following.)




So, I am going to host a give away. As soon as I hit 10 followers I am going to give away a fabric headband similar to one of these . . .


I'll show you which one for sure in the next post or two.


I'll have another give away when I hit 50 followers:)


I would love for you to heap me spread the word:)




In fact, if you become a follower and advertise this give away on your blog,


I'll enter you name in the drawing twice.


Let me know what you have done in the comment section so I know if you get to be entered twice or not.

Now . . . On with the Craft . . .




I love using vinyl, but I do not have a vinyl cutting machine and sometimes I don't want to wait to order it. So I had to start thinking old school and my mind turned to stickers. There are so many cute stickers out there and sometimes they work just fine. Sometimes there is no substitute for vinyl, but in the case of this craft, stickers will work just fine.


This is what you need to make name blocks like mine:
*blocks of wood. I got 1 3/4 inch blocks from my neighbor but you can get 1 inch blocks at Robert's. I saw them on-line, 13 blocks for $2.99. Or You can go to Wood Works ltd


and choose from many sizes. They have 1 3/4 inch blocks for $0.43 each.




*Paint. I used white and Pool blue paints from Walmart.


*Varnish. I think I got mine from Walmart.


*Stickers. I chose a brand called "Thickers" I got them from Robert's.


*Embellishments. I chose paper flowers by a brand called "Delights" also from Robert's.


*Sand Paper. if you want to age the edges ( I thought I was going to but I just used the blue paint instead)


*Paint Brushes.


I shopped at Robert's (with coupons)but you can find most of this stuff at Walmart or Michael's.

My blocks were black and burgundy so I had to apply 3-4 coats of white paint to cover the previous colors. You might only need two or three if you are working with clean blocks. Let the paint fully dry in between coats and I fully believe in using child labor, at least for the first coat of paint anyway:) Once your paint is dry you can sand the edges for an aged look (or stain them or use stamp ink) but I decided I was going to brush a little blue on the tops and edges because I like hot pink and blue together and it will match Raia's bedroom. I squeezed a tiny drop of blue paint into the white paint and lightly dusted it on the block.








Once your paint dries, add the varnish. Let that dry, them add the stickers and embellishments.


Yep, its that easy. Your done.


I forgot to get a picture of the block so that you could see the blue, you might have to settle for enlarging the picture below.



Now remember that the blocks are for decorative purposes only. If your little sweetie get a hold of them they might try to eat the stickers and embellishments . . .look but don't touch:)




4 comments:

  1. I love looking at craft blogs. Can't wait to follow yours and probably copy some ideas too....like the hanging paper balls you made. Can you write a tutorial or tell me where you saw the tutorial?

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  2. I posted your giveaway on my blog and I am so excited to follow your craft ideas!

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  3. Hi Lauren! The tutorial is on the next post down. You should be able to click on the link to get it. I'll check it out again to make sure:)
    Thank you for joining!


    ANd thanks to you too Toshia . . .xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry, it was on my own blog!
    Here is the tutorial . . .
    http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2010/02/hanging-roses-i-was-browsing-blogs.html

    ReplyDelete