I finally made one for myself:

Remember when I made the 50+ Saying block letters for my gift exchange partner? Well, I FINALLY made myself one. Sadly, I like the 2nd one a lot better than the first so I had to share it. This is the project I was working on when I ran out of Mod Podge and made some of my own.

(You can find the link to the FREE Downloadable Cheet Sheet here)

I changed a few things:

• Painted all my blocks black before staining. (If you choose to do this, you can paint just the corners that will show to save on paint and time.)
• Chose only 4 coordinating papers
• Added 1 extra block to put other seasonal pictures on it. (i.e. Shamrock, birdhouse, bunny, Christmas tree, etc. You can add what you like for the season.)
• Did not put paper on top. I decided it looked too busy.

I like how this one turned out. My only problem now is where am I going to put it? My mantle is too full and as of right now, it is covering my adorable baby. I need another shelf perhaps.

Muga & Grandma Mothers Day Blocks

I know, I'm SO behind. That's what happens when you have a baby... over 6 months ago. :) I saw these adorable blocks on somebody elses blog. (Please tell me if it's yours. I want to give you credit.) I just tried searching for it with no such luck. They were super easy and really cheap! My husband said we didn't need to do anything for his mom for mother's day. I went ahead and made this for my mom and showed him. His response was, "Oh, my mom Would Love something like that." So I whipped out another one that morning for her. And of course, she did Love it!

I took 2 square blocks (some my dad had out in his wood shop.) And 1 larger block, the same width as the squares. Painted them an antique white. Sanded and stained them. Then Mod Podged 2 of my favorite pictures of my baby on the front of the squares. Cut the vinyl lettering with my fabulous Cricut. (Can't live without it.) And stuck that on the front of the larger block. I Mod Podged over the vinyl just to make sure it stayed on there. I finished it off by tying a wire lined ribbon (that was tied around a baby gift) around it and tied it in a bow on top. What do you think?

My mom had a great idea, that I'm still planning on doing for her... maybe for Christmas. :) Get 12 more blocks and put all the grand kids picture on each block. Then you can stack them around the saying block. Just an idea.

Baby Nursery

I had this done before my little man came. I have been a little... pre-occupied for the last several weeks. I started by painting the walls with the blue and brown stripes around the whole room. I used the Martha Stewart brand for the blue and a cheaper Walmart kind for the brown. (In case you were wondering, I wouldnt recommend walmart paint for thin strips like this. Even with the green Frog Tape, it still blead down in to the tape. We had to go around the whole room and touch up the main wall color.) My sister-in-law gave me the "Baby" vinyl lettering on the wall, purchased from Roberts. I didn't quite know what I wanted to do there so this worked perfectly. The bedding is the Jackson by the CoCaLo Collection. I just hung the bedding quilt above the glider the other night when we moved little man in there at night. The last thing I need to do is curtains.

Below is the view when you first walk in the room.

 Below is the view looking at the crib from the wall with the window.

Below is the vinyl frame that is above his crib that I cut on my cricut. I found a frame outline online and used the fabulous SCAL to cut it along with his name in the center (blocked out in the center.)

50+ Saying Block Letters...

As I mentioned in my last post, I participated in the Handmade Gift Exchange over at Craftaholics Anonymous. I was paired with the fabulous Angela over at Comfie Corner Crafts. I decided to make her these blocks I saw at a friends house awhile back. I've been wanting to make them for myself but still haven't gotten around to it. (Isn't that how it always turns out?)

Anyway, I've gotten a lot of great feedback on the blocks from my friends and family, I decided to do my first tutorial! And yes, I'm going to make these again.

First off, you start with 15 square blocks. You can do 2 1/2x2 1/2 or 3x3, whatever size you prefer. I think I used 3x3. I went to Lowe's and had them cut my wood down to size. I know places such as Wood Connection has square blocks already pre-cut, but are a little more expensive. Lowes does not charge to cut the wood.

Before you start your project, of course, you need to sand, sand, sand. This by far was the most time consuming part of the whole thing. You may want to use a power hand sander... I definitely will for the next time around. 15 blocks is a lot to sand... just saying.

Next, stain the blocks using a darker color stain. You really only need to do the edges because you are going to cover the sides in cute scrapbook paper.

After your stain has dried, cut your scrapbook paper down to size. On this one, I chose to put the same paper on the front and back, then another paper on the 2 sides, and another paper on the top. I think the next time I do it, I'm going to use the same paper on all 4 sides, then a different paper on the top. You can deifnitely do this anyway you want. I like the look of seeing the paper on top that you are using on the sides as well. It brings all the blocks together. (In my opinion.) Be sure not to cover the bottom, you need to write the number of the block on it. Also, because your blocks can be used YEAR ROUND, you probably want to avoid the seasonal paper prints.

Once you are done Mod Podge-ing the paper on, it's time to cut the letters. By this point, I was ready to be done. I wont lie. I used my trusty NEW Cricut (yes, I got a new one on Black Friday!) and I cut the letters out of vinyl using the Sure Cuts A Lot program. (If I haven't said it enough, I LOVE SCAL!) If you dont have this awesome program, you can use any letter cartridge or even just print and cut the letters out yourself. If you don't use vinyl, just use your trusty Mod Podge again and glue them on. I did this for the Christmas Tree and the other decals I wanted in a different color. Also, I used black for my letters, you can use any color you want. If you are lazy like me and decide to use vinyl, it might be a good idea to paint over them with Mod Podge (which I didn't do because again, I was ready to be DONE! HAHA.)

 As you are glueing/putting your letters on each block, be sure to number the bottom of each block. With the #'s 6 and 9, be sure to underline which the bottom is so you dont get them mixed up.

Once you are done, you can use the free downloadable cheat sheet to see what letter combinations will spell what! Below is another Christmas-y saying that you can create with your new blocks!! Check out the cheat sheet for other ideas. You can use them YEAR ROUND!



Playing with the Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot

I've been in the crafty mood lately... I bought this awesome new program Sure Cuts A Lot for my Cricut. I don't know why I didn't buy it sooner! It's awesome!

This is the No Soliciting sign I put on the window next to our door a few weeks ago. So far, we have only gotten 1 flier, hopefully the rest see it and are actually paying attention to it.

This is the Welcome sign I put on the center of our door. What do you think?

 

I found these images online and my awesome new program just cuts it out on my Cricut. Did I mention that I LOVE IT!??? Now I want to get the bigger Cricut machine!