Day 17: DIY Love and Noel Blocks

DAY 17 is brought to you by, the lovely Mandy of A Sorta Fairytale: Hi! My name is Mandy from A Sorta Fairytale blog! I’m here to share a fun DIY project with you all! Thanks Chelsey for having me.

With fall in full swing, the Holiday’s are on my mind. How about you?? I’ve been itching to find some awesome home/holiday decor that I could make myself. But if I’m being honest, I’m not good at DIY stuff, so if I can do this – anyone can. lol.

This is actually a project that I did for a church activity and I really loved it so I thought I’d share! My friend Paige made a set of these and pretty much told me how to do it – so I can’t take any credit for creativity… lol. 

What I love about these blocks is that they are year-round decor, but can also be Christmas decoration as well since they are reversible.

Here is what you need:

– 4 wooden blocks

– Paint (whatever color’s you want)

– Foam brushes

– Stencils (or in this case, we used a cricut and contact paper)

– Sand paper or ab electric sander.

– Rubber Gloves

– Wood Stain

– Hair dryer (to speed up dry time)

– Here are the step by step directions, based on how I made them.  

1. – I went to Home Depot and just got the cheapest wooden board I could
   find. I found one that was 12ft x 8in (2″ depth) for $4.98. I had them
   cut the board into 8″x8″ squares. It ended up making 12-13 blocks, I only needed 4, but
   it was fine because I was giving some of the other blocks to a friend.
2. – Sand the blocks down so that they are smooth enough to paint. You can sand them with individual sand papers but it will take quite a while, so if you have an electric sander that would be much easier and cut down on time.
3. – Paint the blocks whatever color you like! I painted mine white to start. I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying time.
4. – This next part is tricky. At least it was for me. Because I didn’t have the size stencils I wanted, I bought contact paper at Fred Meyer, and then my friend Paige used her Cricut to cut out the letter stencils. But if you don’t have a Cricut, you could easily buy stencils that would work or try tracing the letters and cutting them by hand.
5. – Stick contact paper stencils to painted block. Put the ‘N’ on the other side of your ‘V’ block.
6. – Paint in the stencils the color of your choosing. Let dry.You can stop here if you decide you like them as is.

7. 

8. – Use the sand paper along the edges of the blocks to achieve a “distressed” look.
9. – Paint on the stain. (I suggest using rubber gloves, as to not stain your hands!) I used a dark walnut color stain, the brand is Minwax. It’s recommended to leave it on between 5-15 minutes and then rub it off with a rag.I left the stain on for way too long on my blocks and so they ended up being really sticky/tacky & took a long time to dry. I sprayed some polyurethane on them hoping it would help coat the blocks and harden. And it did, it just took a few days. Because we painted the wood first, the stain doesn’t soak in as well, so be sure to remove the stain fairly quickly so your blocks don’t end up sticky like mine did. In the end though, I love the way they turned out! They look older and more rustic.

And that’s it! I really am not the best crafter, so I hope this wasn’t too confusing!

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A very big THANK you to Mandy for sharing this fantastic DIY. Please, be sure to give her blog home a visit.

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