I had decided I wanted to make some wooden blocks for my daughter's nursery, partially to serve as decor on a shelf and then once the baby is old enough to be played with by her. I had hoped to do 3"-4" size blocks, but I was unsuccessful in finding those at any of the local stores. I found a place online to order them in 3.5" size, but they were $7.25 each. Ouch. I opted to go with the 99 cent 2" size from Michaels. I chose 8 for no particular reason other than that's how many they had on hand. It turned out to be the perfect amount.
I sanded the edges of the blocks first to make them smoother. I knew that the paper wouldn't cover the corners and I didn't want to see the wood color underneath, so I painted the edges white. I figured white would look best since each side would have a different color scheme to it.
While the paint dried I started cutting out my images. Since the blocks are 2", I cut the images slightly smaller so the painted edges would show and I could get a good adherence to the block without paper hanging off the side.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I made sure that each block had roughly the same kinds of images: one white or yellow background, one pink or red, one blue, one with letters, one with orange, and one with green. I can't help myself. I rearranged the images until I was satisfied with the groupings. Again there is really no good reason for this. I just thought it would make stacking and showing the blocks more interesting.
I didn't want the edges of the pictures to be hard against the white, so I pulled out my distress inks and inked the edges of all the images.
Now for the Mod Podge. I'm dangerously low on Mod Podge now and I still have a few more ideas in mind for projects. I had to do three sides at a time because you have to have somewhere to hold the blocks while gluing the images down. I painted glue onto the block first, and then laid the image down and centered it how I wanted it before painted glue over the top of the image. You can push and pull the image how you want it to be before you glue the top of it, so make sure you do this.
Since there was going to be glue on the edges of my blocks and I didn't want them sticking to my desk, I dug eight bottle caps out of our recycle bin and used them as stands to set the blocks on while the glue dries. I'm handy like that.
Just look at how they turned out! I'm so thrilled with the finished product. There are eight blocks with six sides each...and if you want to know how many possible combinations that equals you'll have to ask my husband. He's the mathematician of the household.
I sanded the edges of the blocks first to make them smoother. I knew that the paper wouldn't cover the corners and I didn't want to see the wood color underneath, so I painted the edges white. I figured white would look best since each side would have a different color scheme to it.
While the paint dried I started cutting out my images. Since the blocks are 2", I cut the images slightly smaller so the painted edges would show and I could get a good adherence to the block without paper hanging off the side.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I made sure that each block had roughly the same kinds of images: one white or yellow background, one pink or red, one blue, one with letters, one with orange, and one with green. I can't help myself. I rearranged the images until I was satisfied with the groupings. Again there is really no good reason for this. I just thought it would make stacking and showing the blocks more interesting.
I didn't want the edges of the pictures to be hard against the white, so I pulled out my distress inks and inked the edges of all the images. 
Now for the Mod Podge. I'm dangerously low on Mod Podge now and I still have a few more ideas in mind for projects. I had to do three sides at a time because you have to have somewhere to hold the blocks while gluing the images down. I painted glue onto the block first, and then laid the image down and centered it how I wanted it before painted glue over the top of the image. You can push and pull the image how you want it to be before you glue the top of it, so make sure you do this.
Since there was going to be glue on the edges of my blocks and I didn't want them sticking to my desk, I dug eight bottle caps out of our recycle bin and used them as stands to set the blocks on while the glue dries. I'm handy like that.
Just look at how they turned out! I'm so thrilled with the finished product. There are eight blocks with six sides each...and if you want to know how many possible combinations that equals you'll have to ask my husband. He's the mathematician of the household.
