DIY Wooden Nursery Blocks

When I was pregnant with Hayden and decorating his nursery, I ordered some cute little handmade custom blocks from Etsy.  Well, this time around I am not working and don't have the extra funds to spend almost $30 on 6 little blocks!  I decided to make my own and I did with a $5 piece of wood, Mod Podge and 1/2 off scrapbook paper from Hob Lob :)  They are not perfect, but that's ok.  I wanted them to look a little 'rustic' or 'shabby' whatever you want to call it.

Here's how I made them.  We got a 1.5 in x 1.5 in piece of wood.  I wanted 2 inch blocks but they only had this size and one that was too big.  Anyway, my wonderful hubby cut 10 1.5 inch blocks from the wood.  I couldn't have done it without him since that part required some chop saw action!  Let me just say I couldn't do a LOT of my projects without my hubby's help, he is the best :)

So, I then had the daunting task of sanding all these because I wanted to round out the edges a bit.  This probably would have been easier with a sanding block but I had like a sanding sponge type thing that was not really cutting it :-/  Anyway, after I got all the rough edges smoothed out, I went around them with a wood stain pen and 'stained' all the edges.

It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to cover what will show in-between the pieces of paper.

I had pre-cut all my pieces of scrapbook paper to fit and had them separated. 

Then I just Mod Podged them onto the blocks one at a time. (I used matte finish because I didn't want a shiny finish.)

I put the mod podge on the block then laid the paper on top but you could coat the back of the paper and put it on the block, I just wanted to get the least amount of sticky glue on my fingers as possible.....  I think either way you get messy :p

After covering the blocks in paper, I covered each block with a coat of mod podge.

I covered the 5 sides at one time and left one side (the bottom) uncoated until they dried, then finished coating them.

Here's the finished product :)

I love this little ducky block :)

They can be changed to whatever pattern combo I like.  I put the same 6 patterns on each block so if I want, I can have all the blocks matching or mix it up!

They are now sitting atop her dresser.  You'll be seeing them again in the nursery reveal hopefully coming soon!  I am still finishing up decorating in there.  I have yet to find an affordable accent rug (that coordinates with the room) and I'm getting a little frustrated!  I can't wait to show it to you all :)  My hubby worked so hard in there!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!