Wood block photo holders, part 2, Mod Podged paper

This is another variation on my last project that I tried with the wood 1x4x6 and a little dowel to make it an easel. I included the link in my previous post- I can't claim the original idea- the original source was generous enough to share her great idea with all of us and include a tutorial- check it out in my last post! She used her Silhouette to make vinyl stencils and paint to make some super cute photo/note holders..


This time around, I tried Mod Podging (that's a proper term, right? ;) ) paper on the wood, and sanding around the edges- I painted first... Then, tying satin ribbon around them... I think I'm in love with the ribbon! I think I might try inking the blue ones with brown around the edges... I'm not sure if that would be "gilding the lily" so to speak...

Red and cream....

aqua and white...

aqua and cream.. have I mentioned how much I like the satin ribbon? :)

Wood block photo frames

I found this super cute and easy idea from a fabulous link : http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2011/05/make-your-own-wood-block-photo-frames.html
I didn't stencil mine like she did, but the possibilities are endless with what you can do. I think I want to try some with Cricut vinyl, and also try Mod Podging cute paper on there. I couldn't find any of that nice baker's twine when I looked, but I really like the look of the satiny ribbon. I used a sheer organza ribbon for most of them, because I had the most of that. Love the satin ribbon and bow! I didn't even need glue or staples. I just wrapped the ribbon around several times and tied a double knot, then a bow.

I don't know if the dowel needs to be the full 4 1/4 inches, but it adds stability being that length.

And here's all of them together, all ready to slip my "thank you" tags in for the teachers. I made these to give to all the female teachers, secretaries, lunch lady, and safety patrol lady (that just doesn't sound "proper" but I don't know what else to call her. I appreciate them all and thought (and hope) they might enjoy the little gifts.

I almost decided to give these to the male teachers- somehow we have a bunch of male teachers for my boys, which is good, but makes giving crafty gifts kind of hard... I decided against it, and they will get chocolate dipped pretzels instead. I don't have the cash to give everyone Starbuck's cards.. wish I did, but oh well... :) Anyhow, check out the link and get some great ideas like I did! Thanks Stephanie!!

Wood Block Photo Holders

This is essentially the same thing as I did before with the project from http://www.howdoesshe.com/ , only I made the bottom piece of wood (from a 2x4) twelve inches instead of eight, and added 2 more blocks. I made this for my husband's mom, and it uses both sides so she can have all the grandkids and great grandkids on there. I really, REALLY love how my little clothespins turned out. You can get a package of 12 I believe, from Walmart for under 2 dollars. I painted them like I painted the blocks- with a bottom layer of red, and top layer of aqua, sanding around the edges to show the red just a bit through the distressing... Totally fun grandparent gift- or for any other person who you want to bless with a photo holder. Use whatever colors you like, paint or don't paint, use paper or not.. your choice. I suppose at some point I need to move on past the aqua/red combination... :)

Scrapping, kinda, with wood

I bought these wood hangers of sorts from Craft Warehouse. The example they showed had a picture scrapped on it. I decided to do the same thing, only after going from one idea to another with some pictures of a friend's boys. I'm really pretty pleased with how this ended up- especially since I finally decided on what to do with these "future projects" after they sat for a year in my craft stash.... No, I don't hoard... my husband would disagree- I purge every so often- a year or two is generally the maximum amount of time I'll keep something... but I digress. :) I suppose everything is pretty obvious what I did- stitching, distressing, brads, inking... Once I decided what I was going to do it went fast- only 6 months in the making or so, since I got the pictures...