I love giving gifts, especially homemade, crafty, and personalized ones. So when I found out that one of my good friends was expecting, I starting pinning anything and everything that could provide me with gift ideas. It was about this time that I came across a String Art pin that was made in the shape of Texas. I thought the concept was really cute, but it wasn't until a couple weeks later that this gift came together in my head.
So I gathered up my supplies and set out on a fabulous craft adventure to create name blocks for the precious new baby Astrid.
Materials:
- 6 4x4 square wooden-blocks (from Joann)
- Embroidery Floss (one purple and one green)
- Purple Ribbon
- White Acrylic Paint & Foam Brush
- Cricut Machine and Lyrical Letters Cartridge
- Sandpaper
- Tiny Nails (Lowe's)
- Hammer
- Needle-Nose Pliers
- Scissors
Step #1: The first thing I did was cut out the letters of Astrid's name on my Cricut. I used the Lyrical Letters cartridge and cut the letters to fit the face of the blocks (3 1/2 inch letters). I had my husband help me by drilling a hole at the top of every block. Then, I painted the wooden-blocks with two layers of the white acrylic paint.
Step #2: After the paint dried, I sanded down the edges to provide an antiqued look. Then, I taped the paper-letters onto the blocks. Once every letter was attached, I carefully began hammering in the finishing nails around the paper, leaving about 1/2 of a cm between each one. I was also cautious to only hammer the nails in half-way so that I would have some room to wrap the floss around them. It took some time for me to get into the rhythm of this, but the easiest way I was able to do it was to hold the nail steady with the pliers in one hand and hammer with the other.
Step #3: Once I hammered in the nails all the way around the paper-letter, I lifted the paper and was left with an outline of each letter.
Step #4: I tied one end of the floss to my starting nail and then had fun wrapping it in different patterns - making sure I twisted it around every nail. When I got to the end of each letter, I tied another knot with the floss and attached it to the final nail.
Step #5: I repeated Step #4 with all the letters. In order to hang the pieces, I cut purple ribbon into 1 1/2 foot pieces and strung them through the holes my husband had drilled and tied bows.
And for some extra love, I added a personal message on the back of the last block.
Well there you have it! One creative and personalized gift that Astrid loved...well, her mom did anyway. :)
