September 25, 2013    

DIY Halloween/Fall Decor Blocks

My friend Jessica had made the cutest blocks that spelled out “LOVE” AND “JONES” (their last name) for their house and I’ve wanted to make some ever since. I love decorating but there is only so many picture frames and candles that one house needs and I have a hard time finding a lot of other decorations that fit in my frugal budget, although I’ve been checking the local thrift stores!

I went to Lowes and picked out a piece of lumber that was probably about a 2×6 or 2×8 board. I didn’t need anything fancy so I just picked up the cheapest kind of wood they had. The guy at Lowes even cut it for me. I just told him to cut the entire thing in 6 inch increments. It took him about 5 minutes where it would have taken me an hour to cut all those! I walked out with probably 14-ish blocks and endless possibilities for block decor! The best part is…the board only cost me $6 and will make 4 different sets of blocks!

With Halloween and Fall approaching, I knew I’d be bringing out all my Holiday decor soon. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out three halloween scrapbook paper sheets and 4 fall scrapbook paper sheets. Bonus for me: the scrapbook paper was all 50% at the time…gotta love Hobby Lobby sales!

These are she steps I took to make the blocks. It sounds like a lot but I think both sets of blocks maybe took me an hour total.

  • Quickly sand down the edges of the blocks with a sanding block to soften the edges
  • Paint the edges of the block to the desired color (I used black for the Halloween and a brown for the fall blocks)

blocks

  • Cut the scrapbook paper to the size that will cover the entire block
  • Put a think layer of modge podge on the block and place the scrapbook paper on top. Try to flatten the scrapbook paper the best you can and prevent wrinkles or air bubbles

photo 1

  • You can hand paint, stencil, use stickers or do vinyl letters (for those that own a cricut) but I decided to just print my desired letters onto regular computer paper and cut them out by hand which is no additional cost…Whoop Whoop! I knew I wouldn’t have been happy with my hand painted letters and I didn’t have any of the other options, nor did I want to spend the money on them. I carefully cut the letters out and used an exacto knife to cut the inside of the “A” in FALL.
  • I applied a thin layer of modge podge to the back of the letters and placed them on the board. Press flat. They may wrinkle or bubble up a little but it’s not that noticeable.

photo 3

  • Then brush a thin layer of modge podge over the top of the entire block to seal the letter on to the block and seal the scrapbook paper.
  • Once the block is completely dry, I went back with my edge color (black) and applied a rough/dry brush edge on the blocks to give them the imperfect look I wanted.

photo 5

I still need to go back and add the paint to the FALL edges but see you can see how the “BOO” looks a little more finished with edges roughly painted black.

photo 2

boo

I’m pretty happy with the way these turned out and they are perfect to use with my other Halloween and Fall decor, especially when I only spent about $8 for both sets!

I’ve already started on a set to use in our house for non-holidays and I’ll post those once I’m done and I may have to make some Christmas ones too! 🙂

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