blocks of love

I recently attended the baby shower for a good friend and the absolute cutest baby on earth!  When it came to present time, I could never settle for a store bought gift...mostly because I could never choose between the cute little outfits.  I decided I wanted to make something a little more personal for my new favorite little boy.  I decided upon blocks with letters making up his name.  I looked at their registry online and found out the colors they were planning to decorate the room in.  I then set off for Michael's (I had a 25% off your entire order coupon!!).  I got six unfinished wooden blocks (about a dollar a piece) and some scrapbook paper (wound up being about three dollars) in colors that went with the nursery color scheme.  I got solids and patterns to add more interest.  I cut squares slightly larger than each side of the blocks.  I then laid out the squares and decided which color letter I wanted to put on each one.  I cut out the letters with a die cut machine.  If you do not have access to anything like this then you can paint the letters, use markers or use letter stickers.
I tore the edges of the squares to give the blocks more of a distressed look.  I then decoupaged the paper (using homemade decoupage) onto the blocks followed by the letters.  (check out how to decoupage...it's SO simple) It did take a little bit of time to complete, waiting for the decoupage to dry so I could turn the block over and do the other side.  Though, I think it was completely worth it and costs less than $10!