I was inspired when I saw a similar set of these blocks for sale online. I said to myself, as i am wont to do, “Geez, I could make that myself with what I have in the garage!”, and so this project was born.
MATERIALS
– 2″ thick wood
(II cut mine from 2″x 6″ boards, but you could make a smaller version cut from 2″x 4″s as well)
– Paint
(I used orange for the Thanksgiving side and nothing for the Noel side, but that’s only because all my red and green paint had dried up. You could easily go paintless on both sides or color on both sides.)
– Scrapbooking paper
– Mod Podge or spray glue and polyurethane
– Sandpaper
STEPS
Cut your wood:
4 pcs – 6×6
2 pcs – 4×5
1pc – 4×12
If you’re using a 2×4, I’d do 8 pcs at 4×4 and 1 piece at 4×8.
Sand down your corners. This not only get’s the splinters out, but gives it a softer look (so it doesn’t look like scrap lumber anymore.)
If you’re using color, go ahead and paint a side, let it dry and paint the other. As I mentioned, I did orange on one side and left the other natural.
Cut your scrapbooking paper down so it will fit into your printer. Play around with your word processing software until you get a font, color and size that you like. I made my letters around 4″ tall and wide for the larger blocks and 3″ tall for the smaller letters – the T and the S. Printout each letter T, H, A, N, K, S and J, O, Y, O, U, S and GIVE and NOEL on a different, but coordinated scrapbooking paper. Use a paper cutter, or scissors and a ruler to cut the letters down to 5×5 for the larger and 3.5″ and 4.5″ for the smaller. Do the same with the words, making the paper they are printed on 1″ smaller than the block. Glue the letters to the block either using Mod Podge or spray glue. Once you’ve done one side, go back and do the same thing with the Christmas side. Once they are all dry, seal the entire block with another coat of Mod Podge or a clear coat of polyurethane.
