Wood Salad Plate Makeover!

I love the idea behind this old garage sale find. This is an old wood salad plate (the back side) turned into art. Tricia created a design by cutting out pieces of contact paper and sticking them to the wood. Then she spray painted the plate. Once it was dry she pulled off the contact paper and hung it on her wall. Keep your eyes peeled for the treasures at garage sales.

And just think of all things you could do with this! Anybody want to share what they decided to do? I'd love to see it!

XOXO Letters

My grandma made this cute Valentine set for her mantle. She bought the wood letters (aren't they cute with the hearts in the O's) at the craft store and painted them pink. Then she traced each wood piece onto some scrapbook paper and cut it out slightly inside the traced line (so that the paper didn't totally cover the painted wood. She used mod podge to seal the paper on the wood. Then used embellishments like buttons, flowers, and ribbons to dress up each letter. I love her paper choices and embellishments. So cute.

Don't know how to mod podge? Go here.

XOXO Valentine Frame

I made this a few years ago. It was my mother-in-law's idea for a craft group she was doing. She found these little white shadow box frames on sale at a craft store for 99 cents. First, we chose a Valentine themed paper as our background. We removed the back panel of the frame, traced it on the back side of the paper, cut it out, and glued the paper to the front of the back panel. Then I took the "X" and "O" which she also got from the craft store as is and glued pre-painted hearts (from the craft store) on them. I also wrapped some wire around each letter. Then the letters were glued to the paper with heavy duty glue (E6000). I also added a piece of wire and a heart to the outside bottom corner of the frame with some hot glue.

Variations: some of the other crafters painted their frame red, covered their letters with paper, and/or painted their letters.

A simple gift to put together that is great for the person that appreciates a "low calorie" Valentine.

Fun Clothespins

Clothespins are a cheap and easy thing to dress up. You can find a package of 30 at the dollar store. These cute clothespins were found here with a tutorial too. They are just mod podged with some scrapbook paper. Use these to dress up any gift wrap job and add a magnet on the back to make it even more useful to your recipient (great addition to a magnet board gift!). Consider adding other things to the clip like ribbon, buttons, or flowers too.

Small Joy Block (so easy!)

I printed out these JOY letters on holly paper. Then I used a red plaid paper to frame the holly. The paper was glue-sticked onto a piece of scrap wood I painted white.

Here are the JOY letters you can print and here is a Joy tag to print if you want to make this a gift.

Painted Letters

Wood and cardboard letters can be painted or mod podged for a simple gift.

Here are some wood letters that were painted. Wood letters can be found in various sizes and styles.

Here is a cardboard letter that was painted on the sides and back and mod podged with patterned paper on the front.

These wood letters were mod podged.

Try doing just an initial (or all of their initials) instead of a full name to slim down the price. Letters are so versatile. They can be used for anything.

Give Thanks

More glorious vinyl lettering. I love the way vinyl looks so nice and perfect. This is one of the few Thanksgiving decorations I own.

P.S. Although I love antique spray I did not use any on this.

Vinyl Merry Christmas

Here is an easy item to make. I used vinyl lettering on a red and green distressed slab of wood. After the vinyl was applied I sprayed antique spray (spray paint) over the wood and vinyl to give it a vintage look. My mother-in-law has taught me well the power of antique spray.

St. Patrick's Day Blocks

I made these really quick one year because I didn't have anything to put up for St. Patty's Day. They are just wood blocks cut from a 2x4 (scrap wood) painted green and white. Then I cut out a clover from a piece of junk mail (cardstock) and used it as a stencil. After the paint was dry I got a little bit of white paint on my brush and waited until it was slightly tacky and then brushed over the green paint.

Stacked Blocks

These photo blocks are nice. These are different sizes of wood blocks painted black with pictures printed and mod podged around the sides of the cube. I really like the patterned paper covered blocks also. You could do them for any holiday or motif.

Merry Christmas Blocks

These look beautiful spread out under our Christmas tree every year.

These blocks were fun to make. I made a few sets of them one year for me and the ladies I visit taught. These are spray-painted wood blocks (scrap wood) and hand-painted letters. Then I sprayed antique spray all over for a vintage finishing touch.

If you don't want to hand-paint your letters print out letter from the computer and use them as templates. Or you could use vinyl for a little bit more money.

Let It Snow

Winter gifts are fun to give for the holidays. They can be enjoyed all winter! My house always looks a little bare after I take down all of the Christmas decor. Why not give something to brighten up the remaining winter months?

These blocks were painted white and the edges sanded and stained. Then I mod podged the blue paper on each block. I printed out the letters on a frosty transparent paper (printing just the outline of the letters) and then cut them out. As I was cutting out the words "let" and "it" I decided to use the background instead of the actual letters just for something different.

The letters were then mod podged on to the blocks.

Homemade Memory Game

This idea came from here. Martina made these using cardboard she cut into squares instead of the wood squares. Then she mod podged the patterned paper on each side. Be sure to let these dry VERY well (at least 24 hours) before stacking them and don't put a lot of mod podge, if any, over the top of the paper to prevent sticking.

I found a bag of wood squares (in a variety of sizes) at Michael's for 2.99. The bag had small, medium, and large squares in it. The large squares would be the perfect size for a memory game and there were plenty of the large size to do it.

Established Blocks

I love wood blocks. Besides the look I also like that they are durable with kids around and any "distressing" they do only add character. Here is a great idea for a newly married couple or a 50th wedding anniversary and everything in between. If you don't have access to your own vinyl letters or want to buy them you could print out letters in any font, cut the letters out, and trace the letters onto the blocks.

Hint: Before you print out your letters select the text, right click and select "Font" and then check the box that says "outline." This will save on ink.

Word Blocks for Every Season

I think these seasonal wood cubes are a really fun idea. They spell 16 different words for all kinds of holidays so it is a gift that lasts throughout the year. I found them here. Although these are 4x4x4 wood cubes you could easily do 2x2x2 to make the price a little more affordable. Vinyl lettering is also a pretty affordable way to go even if you don't have your own vinyl cutter (it would cost you around $10 for the letters plus shipping if you ordered them from spellbound). but you could also hand paint the letters for a vintage look or mod podge some cut out paper letters if you are wanting to be even more budget-friendly.

Here are the letters you will need:

Block #1 HYED

Block #2 ACRS

Block #3 RPET

Block #4 VNLO

Block #5 EOMD

Block #6 SMKI

Block #7 TFBW

Here are the words they spell:

Harvest

Faith

Welcome

Family

Spooky

Friends

Winter

Freedom

Blessed

Snow

Home

Hope

Monster

Mother

Dream

Easter

Now that I have moved I don't have my connections for cutting wood blocks. I am going to have to figure out some way to get these made!