I have a lot of nephews, seven just on hubby’s side alone! Add in all the other family members and it seems like every other week there is a birthday and a gift to buy.
So with another nephew’s birthday fast approaching, I decided that I would make a gift. This also gave me the chance to personalise it, a true one-of-a-kind gift.
I didn’t have to think about it for very long, a set of blocks with the letters of his name would be just the thing. Deciding what to make was the easy part, now to make it was another thing, entirely.
I had some scrap wood, left over from this project but it had a lot of holes in it.
Luckily I only needed six blocks and could work with the un-holed parts, so I marked it up and got two decent sized chunks with which to work with.
My tool of choice would be a circular saw, however I have had many a nightmare about chopped fingers and will not use it when working with very small pieces of wood. And then, if I am the only one at home, I will not use it as a safety measure. So, at home by myself and working with small chunks of wood, I choose the jigsaw.
I blame it on the jigsaw blade possibly bending whilst in use but it could also very well be the user, I just could not get my cuts straight!
Hopeless!! So out came the belt sander and some a lot of time later, I had close-enough to level tops and bottoms. Hooray for the power sander!
Now for the fun part, painting and decorating. First to the scraps of scrapbook paper and I found just enough of a vintage car print and co-ordinating stripe paper. I pulled out the acrylic artist’s paints and chose primary colours to match and mixed up some other colours too.
I had one of these baby food container and trays left from when my kidlets were bubs and repurposed as a paint holder, this would have to be one of the best things I have done – no more messy paint palettes to clean each time, no more wasted paint (I always squeeze out too much from the tube) and most used colours easy to hand.
So, I painted all surfaces except front and back as these would be later covered by paper. Left to dry. I made up the letters on Powerpoint on my computer, just formatted a text box to look pretty and added each letter in a font I liked, printed and cut out.
Papers were cut to fit, letters layered on and all affixed and sealed with Mod Podge, I sealed all around except top and bottom so it could sit to dry. I did not go back and seal top and bottom as I ran out of time thought it just didn’t need it.
This was soooo much fun to do and I am really happy with the end result. The recipient is only One and was more interested in the paper in which his presents were wrapped in (aren’t they cute at that age?!) but I’m sure, in time, he will love his personalised blocks made with love by his Aunty.
What about you, do you seem to have a family birthday like every other week?
Have you ever made a gift?
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