Giant Picture Blocks

We are going to be moving into a fully furnished home soon and it is kind of strange to be living in someone else's home and using all their things.  I need some ways to bring my own style and personality to our new home. I have been searching for non-traditional ways to display pictures around the house. Picture blocks are a great way of displaying pictures because it is easy to move them around and place them in different areas of the home like a shelf, mantle, or counter top.

 I took a trip to the hardware store in search of some wood. I always like to check out the scrap wood pile because you can find some great pieces for projects like this at discount prices. I ended up buying a total of 4 pieces for around $2. Then I had the lovely workers cut the wood pieces for me into 3 rectangles, and 2 small blocks. By the end of the trip I had 2 large squares, 3 rectangles, and 2 small blocks.

I sanded the wood pieces lightly on all the sides. Then I decided how I wanted to display the pictures of the wood pieces by standing up the wood on the side. (This is important because if you get wood from the scrap pile sometimes the wood will be warped or uneven). Next I painted the wood on all the sides leaving a blank space in the front where I would paste the picture.

While the paint was drying I cut our pictures to the correct size. There are several options in this area. You can cut your picture so it fits exactly the size of the wood or you can cut your picture smaller and put scrapbook paper behind the picture. I trimmed the sides with a rounded paper cutter and used rustic ink on the edges for a burned edge look.

Once the paint dried I used mod podge to glue the pictures to the wood. Paint a layer of mod podge on the wood, then the picture smoothing out all the bubbles, and finish with mod podge over the top of the picture.

Once your pictures are dry you can add embellishments if you want. I added a ribbon to the large picture and one to a smaller picture just for fun. Then using sand paper rough up the edges for a slightly distressed look.

Quick, easy, and cost efficient. That's my kind of craft.