Hey there, it’s Jamaica. This month I thought I’d make something different than usual. I found these 1.5″ wood blocks in the clearance bin of the craft store the other day and thought they’d be fun. Back at home I pulled together a handful patterned papers from my favorite kits: eternal sunshine, spellbound, road trip, up and away, the weekender, and more + less.

Originally, I thought I’d add a mix of papers to each cube so that they’d all end up different. But in the end, I only using 4 papers and leaving one side of each block blank so you could see the bare wood. It felt more cohesive and functions like a puzzle on the striped side. The last side, I sort-of spray painted gold. Because I decided to paint it after I’d already adhered paper to the other sides (and was afraid of tape or overspray), I spray painted a piece of paper that I could trim and glue on like the others.

Here’s a quick how to: cut your paper into 1.5″ squares, use Elmers glue and a brush to adhere the paper squares to the blocks, let dry, use an exacto knife to trim any excess paper and sand slightly along the edges to smooth. I did one side at a time letting each dry well before moving onto the next (i.e., all of the XOXO sides, then all of the striped sides, etc). This helped prevent getting too many glue goobers on the other sides and let me trim each side as it was finished. To help protect them for kid use, I’ll probably finish them off by adding a few coats of Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic spray paint.

But for now, they’re living happily on the bookshelf in my office amongst my other favorite things.

While mine are purely decorative, it would be easy to make a set for kids with numbers, the alphabet and/or photos of loved ones, friends and pets. Or create puzzles using larger images broken up into pieces. Another fun idea would be to decorate each cube with photos and memorabilia from a trip or special event. The possibilities are endless…

xo, jamaica

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