Love Blocks

Ya, ya...I know it's March and that love was the theme for February. But...this is one of the posts that didn't make it in time. And...it goes with the post that went up on the blog last week, so it's just going to happen today. Embrace the chaos!

These Love Blocks are the back sides of the Lucky Blocks. Yup...they're reversible! Oooh...fancy. Actually, it's just a nice way to reduce the amount of blocks that Collin had to cut and the number of blocks I have to store in between holidays. Believe it or not, storage space is not unlimited in our house.

Like I showed you in the post for the Lucky Blocks, these are pretty easy to make and they don't take a lot of supplies.

To make the Love Blocks you'll need:

* 4-5 sanded wood blocks cut from a 2x4. You'll need five if you want the heart and if you want them to be reversible with the Lucky Blocks.

* Patterned paper.

* Letters.

*Adhesive for your letters.

* ModPodge and a paint brush. I used a foam brush on these and I may have lost my love for them. Not one, but two of them decided to disintegrate and find their way to the trash can during the project, leaving little black foam specs all stuck up in the ModPodge. Bologna foam brushes, bologna. (Boloney? Ya...I don't know if you're supposed to use the proper spelling when you're using it as an insult or not, but I'm pretty fed up with foam brushes.)

Anywho...let's put these puppies together.

The directions are obviously the same as with the lucky blocks. Measure the height and width of each of the blocks. Cut out your paper to the measured dimensions. When in doubt, cut just a titch smaller. It's easier to adhere paper that's a little smaller than the wood block than it is to mold the paper over the edges...especially if your paper is a little on the thick side.

Adhere letters to their corresponding papers. I like to use my sticker maker for this. The sticker maker likes to run out of adhesive before I'm finished using it.

Attach the paper to the wood block using the Mod Podge by applying the ModPodge to the paper and then attaching to the blocks. This will minimize your wrinkles. I found an even easier method this time and actually adhered my paper to the blocks by running them through the sticker maker. That was a horrible idea. The lack of ModPodge under the paper made it more difficult to avoid wrinkles and seal the edges. Any trapped air bubbles with this method will be twice as ugly than with the ModPodge method. You will curse. Don't try to avoid the ModPodge. You will be sorry.

Let the blocks dry. Make sure you wait enough time in between Mod Podge applications in order to prevent excess bubbles or wrinkles in the paper.

Coat the tops of the papers with a thin layer of ModPodge. Make sure you get fully over all edges. Repeat this process two to three times until you get the finish you're looking for.

And you're finished. Tada! In the end, I've decided that I like the matte finish better for these projects. The gloss finish tends to accentuate the wrinkles in the paper. I prefer to hide my boo boos.