"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