Wooden Photo Blocks

A few years ago my mother-in-law saw these super cute photo blocks at a craft show and thought Hmmm... we could make those!  So she got my father-in-law to cut the blocks to size and then she and my sister-in-law went to town making tons of these cute little things.  Here is one she made for my son's room!

Wooden Photo Block - Baby Boy

 Isn't it just so adorable!!  If you're like me, looking at something like this makes my head spin with all the endless possibilities!  This one was made using a sheet of scrapbooking paper cut to size and a yellow duck dimensional sticker.  The embellishments on top are made of yarn and ribbon.  The clip used on this one is called a Bulldog clip and they are at Staples and Office Depot.  I actually prefer the square ones like this!  It gives you another place to add a little touch of something.

So with those little guys in my memory bank... I went to a friend's house sometime around memorial day and she had a little square sign on her front door commemorating her late husband who served in the Marines during Viet Nam.  It was made of cardstock and had contact paper on both sides for protection.  She hangs on her front door during every appropriate holiday.  Well a vision of one of these blocks instatnly popped into my mind!!!  So I politely asked if she would mind if I made her something a little more durable and she was delighted at the offer!  So I opened up photoshop (PSE10) and went to work.  I found this patriotic digital kit that I just had to have!  From this kit I used the blue stars bordered paper in the background, the swirly do dads in the bottom left corner and the title block (I modified it to remove the blue ribbon in back), and the gold bow.  The red and white wavy stripes at the bottom, I created in Inkscape.  I was lucky and located the USMC and Semper Fi logos in the public domain!!  Then, I printed it out on matte photo paper and decoupaged in to my painted block, added the ribbon and yarn to the top and waalaa!!!

Wooden Photo Block - Patriotism

Now, I know what ya'll are saying... How is she going to hang this on her front door?  Well, I wandered this myself!  I wanted this to able to be hung but then still look pretty when brought inside.  If I put hooks in the top to be hung by then she would have these ugly hooks staring out when it was inside.  I also wanted the ribbons and such to be able to come off so they wouldn't get damaged by the outdoor elements when it was hanging on her door.  So here is what I invented (with a little labor assistance from my father-in-law!)...

I had him cut me a piece of wood with dimensions that matched the top of the block.  Then cut some slits in it so the eye hooks could slip through it, then with a slight turn the eye hooks will hold it in place.  I attached the ribbon and such to this piece of wood instead of to the block.

Here some photos to show you how it works...

Photo block without the plate for hanging

Underside of removable wood plate

Wood Plate placed on top of photo block with eye hooks 'open'

Wood plate held in place by eye hook 'closed' by turning a quarter turn

Eye hooks covered by ribbon and such!

 I hope you made this far... I know this was a long post!  I hope you find it was worth your time.  If you decide to make one of these I would love to what you came up with.  Post a comment with a link to your gallery or blog or send me an email to info@shabbyjodesigns.com.  That's all for today - Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Thank you for stopping by,

Shabby Jo