Handmade Baby Blocks

Some of the Christmas gifts I will be giving this year are going to be handmade. I love the idea of giving handmade gifts because they are gifts that I've put my time and love into making. I think it makes the gifts so special.

I decided to make handmade, personalized building blocks for my niece, Allie. This was the first time I've ever done this, and it was super simple.

I bought 2 inch wooden cubes (five for the five letters of her name) from the craft store. I painted them an off-white color because I wanted the base coat to be neutral so I'd have more flexibility when it came to embellishing the blocks with the scrapbook paper.

I cut 1.7 inch squares of two coordinating scrapbook papers. There was not an exact science to why I picked 1.7 inches. I just wanted to make sure that the paper was slightly smaller than the block so that you could still see some of the painted block after the paper was applied.

Working one block and one side at a time, I covered each side of the blocks with a layer of Mod Podge followed by one of the squares of scrapbook paper.

Once the paper is set into place and no longer slides around on the Mod Podge (this only takes a minute or so) I applied another layer of Mod Podge to the sides of the block. You'll have to leave one side of each block undone because the blocks need a side to rest on while the Mod Podge dries. Once the other sides are dry, you can go back and apply the paper to the bottom side.

Before starting this project, I had printed the letters from Allie's name from Microsoft Word onto a piece of computer paper. I chose the font that I wanted, enlarged it to size 98, and then made the font an outline (to save printer ink.) I also bolded the font because it made it slightly larger.

Then I cut each letter out. This was somewhat tedious, and it would be extremely helpful to have an exacto knife. You will completely skip this step if you're lucky enough to have letter stencils to use! I'm too cheap to buy them, so I just improvised. Maybe one day I'll buy nice stencils, but for now, I'm not going to let my lack of fancy shmancy stencils keep me from being creative!

Then you will need to trace these letters onto the back of another coordinating piece of scrapbook paper. Oh, and make sure you trace them in the right direction so you don't have "L's", for instance, that face left instead of right (Learn from my mistake!)

Cut your traced letters out. Now, use the same process to apply the letters as you did the scrapbook square - cover the whole side with Mod Podge, apply your letter, then apply another layer of Mod Podge.

I then went and cut out some smaller squares from the same paper I used for my letters. I applied these squares to the side opposite the letter on each block.

(UGH!!! I just noticed how awful my cuticles look! As you can tell, this is one often neglected area in my life!)

Then I applied two little pink paper flowers and buttons to two of the blocks.

I chose not to apply something extra to all sides of the blocks because I wanted these blocks to be simple and sweet. You could, however, have a happy time of dressing up all six sides.

I just love how these turned out. Mod Podge is non-toxic so Allie can play with these without my sister having to worry about her being chemically poisoned if she happens to stick them in her mouth. Or the blocks could just be used as a decoration. I think I'm going to look around and see if I can find an additional non-toxic sealer to apply just to make them even more durable!

What a cute gift to give to a mommy for a new baby! Wrap them up all sweet and cute with some pretty ribbon, and you'll have yourself one adorable little gift. I wish my kids were younger, so I could make a set to put in each of their rooms!