Wood Block Fall Pumpkins
There are two things I can’t resist—flip-flops and home decor. Especially, holiday decor. I could really get myself in trouble, especially around the holidays so I’ve been trying to make things, rather than buy. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but it always helps to feed my need to be creative.
And some projects take longer than others, lol. I have a lot of great ideas, but there just isn’t enough time in the day! We (yes, my awesome husband helped too!) started this one last year after I saw this neat tutorial. James cut some wood blocks and sanded them, used a dremmel tool to curve the edges, and then banged them up to give them a lovely weathered and worn feel. I took some orange and brown paints (I’m sorry, I can’t remember which colors I used) and mixed them until I found the color I was looking for, and painted the blocks. It took a few coats because the paint kept soaking into the wood. Then I took sandpaper and lightly sanded the color off the edges. It was almost Thanksgiving by the time we got this part done so the Christmas decor came out and the blocks were tucked into the cupboard until just a few weeks ago.
I’m a terrible painter, so I had secretly been dreading painting the letters on, but James came up with an awesome idea. I printed out the letters in a font that I wanted to use as a template (The one I used is called “A Yummy Apology” and can be downloaded here.) and then he suggested that I put the letters on the wood and trace them with a pen. The wood was soft so it would create an indented outline for me to use when painting. GENIUS! I wasn’t strong enough to get a good indent so he ended up doing that part for me, but it worked wonderfully. I used some white paint I had leftover from another project and easily painted the letters on. Next we found a big stick to use for the stems and James cut them down to size. I hot glued them on the wood and added ribbons, raffia, and silk leaves for embellishment. We’ll spray on a couple coats of sealer before we store them away for next year.
What do you think? I have four more wood blocks left. What should I use them for?
This post was featured on Tip Me Tuesday, Skip to My Lou, Watcha Work-up Wednesday, The Frugal Girls, The Vintage Farmhouse, Flaunt it Friday, Show and Tell Saturdays, and A Bowl Full of Lemons.
Baby Owl Embroidery!
I actually made this a long time ago, but I kept forgetting to post it. 🙂
Not long after my brother told me that he and his wife were having a baby, I came across this adorable Baby Bird stitchery (she has a free printable pattern and tutorial if you want to make it also!). I wanted to make it for my niece who was on the way, however . . . even though I love being crafty, I wasn’t sure I would be able to pull this one off. I finally decided to give it a try. Knowing that they were decorating the nursery with owls, I switched out the baby bird in the pattern for an owl. After getting all the materials for the picture, I realized that I should have asked what colors they were decorating with to make sure it would match. My brother sent a few photos and thankfully it matched pretty well with what they had – whew! 🙂 But, there was also a mural on the wall that was almost exactly the same as the picture I was making. Ooops! I didn’t really mean for it to be so matchy-matchy, but by that time I didn’t have time to create a new design, so I went with it.
I think it turned out pretty cute:
Here are some photos of the nursery. Didn’t they do a great job decorating?
And here is my super-adorable niece. I just love her so much 🙂 I could seriously stare at her all day!
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