Baby Shower Gift

A-ha! What a few vinyl letters and some buttons will do for those wooden blocks:

Around the House

As renters, we are somewhat limited in our decorating attempts, but I wanted to share 2 quick things we did in the past few weeks... Check out the project my roommate did with some old roofing tiles, fabric, and rope!

(One for each roommate!)

Also - A few days ago I made a little sign for our walls...(I realize its off center and don't plan on keeping in this location - this was for photographing purposes only ;)

Its simple! A piece of .51 cent cull wood from home depot that I painted with acrylic paint and crackle and then cut vinyl lettering. Once I find the perfect location for it, I'll let you know! 

Just a few fun touches! 

Hope you are having a wonderful day...

-Katie

Personalized Coasters

Okay, I know! I promised pictures of the "adorable" baskets I made my friend's girls... and they are coming! I just left the photos on another camera - and who really wants to read a blog without photos???...BORING! So, in the meantime, I'll share with you a little wedding gift I recently made: Personalized Coasters! 

These are SO easy! Really, this is not an original idea. I've seen people modge podge ceramic tiles FOREVER, but I thought the lettering was a cool spin on the whole deal! It was an inexpensive gift, and my friend LOVED them. Congrats to Alee who is about to be a "Bishop!" 

All you need are a few ceramic tiles (Mine were from Home Depot and they cost $.16 a piece... Doesn't get much better than that, folks!) some scrapbook paper, modge podge, vinyl paper and a paper cutter or stencils, small furniture grippers, and some spray sealant. Easy Cheesy! 

I started by cutting out the scrapbook paper to the appropriate size for my tiles

I applied modge podge both to the top of the tile and the top of paper (So the paper was SUPER affixed to the tile.) If you do this, make sure you get a good even coat on the top of your paper and smooth out any bumps you see. Then, let them dry!

Once they were dry, I used my cricut to cut out the vinyl letters. If you don't have a paper cutter, you can use a stencil and an exacto knife or you can use a stencil and some acrylic paint. 

I applied the small furniture grippers, and then sprayed a few coats of sealant on! (Note: Let each coat dry before you move on to the next one.) Wow, are you ready for a TERRIBLE photo: 

Fast, easy and CUTE!

My current project is a bookcase revamp... So, the next post is on its way! :) 

Blessing on you and yours today! 

Katie

"Rejoice Blocks"

Let me start off by apologizing for the quality of the pictures in this post. The nikon is down and out for the count at the moment but as soon as she's back on her feet we'll get some better photos up...hopefully soon! 

I suppose these letter blocks are nothing new. I've seen them circulating in the craft blogosphere for sometime now, but I was inspired to try them out and...well... 

I was going for a "rustic" look and rather than using vinyl letters, I chose to "cricut" the letters onto cardstock and cut them to create my own stencils. My hope was that stenciling on the letters would add to that "rustic" feel, instead it ended up being a little messy. Oh well! You live and you learn, right!?

I started with a trip to good ol' Home Depot where I found a piece of 4x4 in the "Cull Lumber" pile (Which are just leftover wood pieces in the back of the lumber section - my piece of wood cost only $.51...WHATA STEAL!!). Then, my lovely "Wood Man" cut 4inch blocks for me (They generally don't do cuts on the cull wood...I guess he could sense the desperation in my pathetic puppy dog eyes?)  

If you aren't able to find a good piece of leftover lumber at your Home Depot, you can buy a 4x4 for just about $6 and just ask them to cut it into 4inch pieces. Still SO cheap.

I had him cut 7 blocks.

Next, I took those puppies home and sanded them down nice and smooth... I used a "fine" sanding block which worked just great for such a small and quick job. 

Side note: I didn't actually sand the wood on top of my carpet... I did it over a piece of cardboard. I know what you're thinking: Phwoof

Next came the spray paint. I didn't prime the wood at all as I wanted them to look rough, but you could always prime your blocks and have them looking perfect. I used Rust Olleum "Satin Granite" and ended up doing only 2 coats although 3 may have been better...

Again... I of course did the actual spray painting outside. I know I know...Phwoof again.

I let them dry overnight and then I sanded down the edges to get it looking nice and worn. 

I used my BELOVED Cricut and, like I said, made my own stencils which I painted on with some black acrylic paint. This was the most time consuming part of the job and the portion of the project which led me to swear that next time I will not use stencils! 

Are you sensing that I may have been a little traumatized?

...ahem...moving on...

Once dry, I sanded over the letters and painted on an antique staining medium...wiped it off... and voila! 

I'm going to have another go at in a few weeks for a friend's baby shower and I'll show you the difference a few vinyl letters can make! 

All in all I spent about $8 at HD for the wood, a sanding block, and the spray paint. Not too bad for a cute little set of blocks!

There you have it!

I also recently finished some ADORABLE baskets for my friend's girls so I'll post those up ASAP. 

Blessings on you today!

Katie