DIY Thursday: Christmas Joy

The past month or 2 I have found a new favorite store for decorations.  It's called Wood Creations.  They have all sorts of unfinished wood projects.  They have all sorts of holiday crafts and cute kid room decorations.  They have examples of each project so it gives you a bit of an idea of how to decorate. I've gotten a few things there and have loved creating my own.  Since I am working on getting more holiday decorations, I got these cute Christmas ones last time I was there.  If you don't have this wonderful store near you, you can do your own version, just get some block letters and you can use a round shape, or a bell shape, or just a regular "O."

The first thing you need to do is trace your scrapbook paper in the shape of your letters.  If they are a little bit bigger, that is fine because we'll take care of that later.

Next, flip the wood letters over so they are backwards and paint them.  Paint the sides too.  If you are putting your blocks where the backs won't be seen, you can skip this but mine are going to be down low i wanted them painted all around.

Once they backs are dry, flip them over and paint a little around the edges.  Let it dry. 

Get out the wonderful thing called Modge Podge and put a coat of it on your blocks.

Put your paper on top of the block.  Make sure and get the edges pressed down.  Make sure and let it dry completely before moving on.   

Then, put your vinyl lettering on.  The lettering came with the block set, but it would be easy to make your own if you want.  You could also just vinyl stickers found at any scrapbook store too.

I love putting distressed edges on things....mainly because I can never paint or cut things straight so I have cover it up somehow =)  If your paper hangs over a bit, this is the step that will take care of that.  Sand the edges to get rid of excess papers and also give the paint a bit of a distressed look too.  I run the sand paper over the scrapbook paper too, just a little.

The next step, get out the Modge Podge again ( I love this stuff!)  Do a coat over the paper to seal it.  Let it dry before doing anything else.

Now, get some tulling  ribbon to match your colors

I thought my letters were missing something so I found some green and red jewels and added them on to the edges of the letters. You can't see them that well in this picture, but there's a close up underneath.  You can see them in real life though =)

I'm hoping to get some cute snowmen or Christmas trees to work on next.  I would love to find a simply wood nativity scene too (wood is more durable than glass around a rambunctious 3 year old boy)

If you can't get your hands on block letters, get a 2x4 and do this version: