25 Days of Hand Made Ornaments - #17 Wood Block Ornaments

Well, let me tell you when I came up with this idea I had no idea how expensive wood blocks had become. Whew ~ I got a real surprise when I started looking around for some for this project. I thought I'd pick some up for a couple dollars....Wrong-O!!! Those puppies are anywhere from 10.00 -50.00!!!! I about fainted...checked out ebay but the shipping kills you on those so I rethought it and decided to use some circular wood blocks my dad had given me. Now you might not have the same type of blocks but the general directions would be the same. I say use whatever you have...if you don't have wood blocks, try chipboard cubes, foam/styrofoam cubes, etc. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to create.

25 Days of Hand Made Ornaments

#17 Wood Block Ornaments

NOTE: The wood blocks I happen to use had holes already drilled through the center. If you are using traditional wood blocks you'll need to drill a hole through the center of each block before you begin.

Supplies:

Blocks

Adhesive

Vintage Text

Distress Ink

Ink Blending Tool

Letters (either dimensional or stickers work)

Wired Tinsel

Beads

Embellishments (ribbon, flowers, charms, etc.)

Instructions:

1. Glue pieces of vintage text to one side of the block.

2. Trim off the excess paper. This is just a rough cut, our next step will take care of the ragged edges.

3. With a rough grit sand paper, remove any rough edges.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 on the second side. If you're using square blocks, you may choose to leave existing images on the 2 other sides or cover with paper. Totally up to you.

5. Ink up the paper using desired color of Distress Ink and Ink Blending Tool. I used Fired Brick, Pine Needles and Walnut Stain.

6. Attach letters to both sides of the blocks. I used "NOEL" on one side and for the flip side I added a vintage Santa collage image on the first block then "JOY" on the remaining blocks. Set aside and let the blocks dry.

7. To start the ornament, string on one bead then add a dangle - in this case I used a small brass bell. Other ideas might include: snowflake, small charm, mini ornament (like we made yesterday), etc. Pull about 1" extra through the dangle and feed it back up through the bead and secure with a dab of glue.

8. Begin adding blocks and beads ~ I used one bead in between each block. It just depends on the size of your beads and the look you're going for.

9. Finish off the ornament by creating a loop with the excess wired tinsel and wrapping it back around it's self and secure.

10. Embellish as desired!

And here you go...

Side #1

Side #2

If you're working with cubes, you could potentially create a 4 sided ornament if you would like.

So there you go...

another ornament day down

and

only 8 more to go!

Tomorrow's ornament will delight not only the eyes but another sense as well...

can you guess what it is????

Till then friends ~ Ink on!!