Baby name blocks

Often, I get my ideas from crafts other people have made, craft shows, commercials, ads on FB, or even someone else’s house, like at a party of some sort. I rarely follow a recipe or instructions and my crafts are no different!! 

THIS idea was one I saw on Pinterest while looking for ideas for the diaper cake in my previous blog entry. It’s for the same momma but this was a gift from me. I knew she was having a girl and I knew she was doing baby’s room in a feminine, jungle theme. Again, I shopped several different stores over a matter of months and this little beauty is what I came up with. 

I had no idea what direction I was going with this when the idea struck me.  This was the picture that I saw on Pinterest (I have no rights....it belongs to bitsyblocks)

I love these blocks and this idea so much you guys!!! But I wanted to make it match her theme so I knew I had some brainstorming to do!  I was at Target one day and saw the cutest 3-block set.  They were made to display the days/weeks/months/years of a baby's life.  You could flip/arrange the top two blocks to the desired numbers and the bottom one you could flip between days/weeks/months/years.  I knew I was going to paint them because it was unfinished wood.  But the rest I was just going to have to figure out as I shopped!  I found a lot of what I needed at Hobby Lobby but also shopped Michael's, Joanne Fabrics, Dollar Tree and Walmart. (You may recognize some of these things from the previous blog as they were used for both the Baby-Q diaper cake and this block craft).  Here's most of my haul:

You can see the blocks they way I bought them, above.  I was determined to make this into something incredible and I don't think I missed the mark! I sanded down the blocks so that when I painted over them you wouldn't be able to see the numbers/letters.  I knew that was going to be tough and boy was I right!  I didn't have the right kind of sand paper. And what I think I should've done was use a primer.  That took some time...and SEVERAL coats of white chalk paint!  After the paint dried I decided I was going to do different designs for each block.  I covered the sides with different patterns using the scrapbook paper that I picked out at Hobby Lobby, above.  Those little honey comb stickers were too cute to pass up but I didn't end up using those.  

I didn't have gold paint, nor did I think it would work well to try to paint these letters so I used a gold paint pen.  It was NOT cooperating with me at all but once I started I was ALL IN!  I was determined to make this work!  I didn't do this one in a live video so I'll try to explain a few things the best I can, for those that may be interested in how I did it.  You won't be surprised to hear that I didn't measure anything.  I honestly don't even know why I own a ruler of any kind. Seriously.  

I randomly picked which paper pattern would go where, as I went along.  I didn't preplan how many of what pattern or anything like that. Totally winged it, as usual.  Instead of measuring, what I decided to do was coat the side of the block I was working on with mod podge and lay it on whatever paper I was coating that side with. Then I used an Exacto knife to cut around the block.  If more than one side of the block had the same pattern of paper, I left one side 'uncut', coated it with mod podge and rolled it to cover that side and so on. Does that make sense? Maybe I should've used the word 'turned' instead of 'rolled'.  Once I had the individual blocks all covered with paper I set those aside. 

For the bottom blocks that have babies middle and last name, I put two of the long blocks together, adhering them with hot glue.  Once they were dry, I hot glued a ribbon around the top of the two I glued together and another ribbon around the bottom.  This helped hold it in place.  I wrote the words on those blocks after I adhered them and before I wrapped the ribbon.  

The ribbons were adorable!! But when I reached the point of adding them I really wished I'd picked up a few more patterns.  I chose the giraffe ribbon for the top block because it was kind of wide and I didn't want that to detract from the rest of the blocks if I had it somewhere in the middle.  It was also too wide to wrap around the bottom blocks.  In order to create another pattern I decided to wrap some lace around one block and accent with twine. THAT turned out super cute!!  

I kept one set of blocks to use for the calendar and put those on the very top, above baby's name.  I really hope momma liked this gift. I sure had fun creating it!!  

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog once again! I hope you enjoyed this short little description of this super adorable and fun craft!  

Don't forget to check out my Facebook Page and share with your crafty friends and fam!! 

Have a wonderful week and stay tuned for more super fun crafts here in my blog and on my Facebook Page, where's I'll be doing another live video VERY SOON!!! 

Happy Crafting!

Baby-Q diaper cake fun!

Hello crafty friends and followers! Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by to read about my most recent crafty adventure, a Baby-Q diaper cake! Isn't that the cutest theme ever? 

"Bun in the oven"

"Burgers on the grill"

O. M. G. 

You guys!!!! When my friend asked me to make this for her daughter I was so excited!!! I had never heard of this theme before and frankly was a little upset that I didn't think of it first!! They have since changed the BBQ to a drive by shower (Thanks COVID!) but are sticking with this theme, which is great!  I just think it's SUPER DUPER cute!!!  

With a global pandemic, shopping was a little challenging for this one!  I had to go to 7 different stores in about the last 2 months to find everything I needed.  Dollar tree, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics, Meijer, Walmart, and Rite Aid!  Whew!!!  My friend sent me a photo example of what she had in mind, knowing, I'm sure, that I would make it my own.  I'm SO glad she trusts me because this turned out super cute, I think!  

First we had to start with a base. I looked EVERYWHERE for cake rounds. You know, the little cardboard circles you use to put your cake on? I finally found the round, silver, floral ones at Walmart. That was gonna have to do! I think I paid a little over $2 for a pack of 5!

In order to have something to keep the layers of the cake lined up, we needed put something in the center and adhere it to the cake round.  My go-to for this is usually the cardboard inserts in rolls of wrapping paper.  I rifled through my Christmas wrap and found one! I'm hoping that paper holds up until I need it for wrapping gifts at Christmas! Ha ha! 

In true Sambo style I did not measure and instead eye-balled the center of the cake round. I used my hot glue gun to secure the roll.

 

I rolled a box of 100, size 3 diapers and secured them with ouchless hair ties from Rite Aid. Box of 200 for around $2. Can't go wrong with that! I put two ties on each diaper to keep it from losing form.  I've noticed in the past that the diaper will slide around a little and lose shape if you only use one. Either way, I knew once the cake was assembled I'd be covering up that part of the diaper so the ties, however many I used, would not be visible.

Building the cake was probably the most time consuming part.  But fun and very interesting!  In hindsight I probably should've bought a bigger box of diapers!  When I got to the top and final layer I realized I was a little short on diapers so I had to improvise!  I decided to take a couple paper towel rolls I had and cut them into toilet paper sized rolls. I used those as make-shift diapers to take up space in the center of the top layer, which I knew I would be covering with a big flower on top.  I put the remaining diapers around the outside, essentially hiding all the rolls I had just used. Not ideal, but it worked in a pinch! lol 

Now it was time to add the embellishments!! First, I measured the burlap by winging it, you know, Sambo style!  Ha ha! Look. I just feel like most of the time, measuring takes too long and I'm never too far off with my eyeballs so it works for me.  If you feel better using a measuring tape, go for it! The burlap I had was a little too thick for the height of each layer so I had to cut it lengthwise to make it thinner.  I didn't want to cover the whole diaper!  After wrapping each layer with the burlap I secured it with hot glue, placing a little piece of cardstock behind the seam so the glue wouldn't stick to the diapers.  Hot glue has a way of seeping and I was, after all, using burlap, which is porous! lol  After securing the burlap, I put a piece of lace ribbon and a thin red check ribbon on the top layer and a piece of lace ribbon and a thick red check ribbon on the bottom layer.  Time to line up those seams so I could prepare the bows!

I made the sign on my computer using Microsoft Word.  I printed it out on cardstock and didn't really know what I was going to do with it from there.  That was weeks ago! lol  I found a cute set of napkins and decided to experiment!  The napkins are two ply so I separated the layers. I glued the napkin, design side up of course, to a piece of white cardstock.  I then glued the sign I made and had already cut out at this point on top of the napkin. I cut around the sign, leaving a border with the napkin.  I glued that to the black cardstock, cutting around the border once again to leave a frame. I placed the sign on the middle layer of the cake, gluing it at the seam where I had secured that little piece of paper so as not to get glue on the diapers.

The bows were the really fun part!! I went with a smaller bow on the top layer.  This layer is the smallest so it only made sense! Right!? I decided to put a little white flower in the center of that bow. I made a larger bow with the larger red check ribbon for the bottom. I left the ends pretty long because I had this brilliant idea that I wanted it to look like the ribbon was flowing around the cake.  I like doing that when I bake cakes and use fondant as well.  I don't know what my fascination is, I just like it. A lot. 

The flowers took a little more time than I thought but only because deciding on placement was so difficult.  I had an idea in my head but when I had the flowers in my hand, they had different plans entirely! I used the big flower for the center.  I cut it to the height of the cake, inserted it into the center paper roll and glued around the top of the roll to adhere it to the underside of the flower head. Then, I placed smaller red flowers around and sort of under the petals of the big flower to give the appearance of a bigger flower or bouquet of flowers, but also to hide those rolls a little better!! The sunflowers were so cute and I had far too few!! I wanted them to sort of cascade around the cake.  I finally had them all situated where I wanted them and even added a couple more little white flowers, just for accents.  

There were a few hiccups along the way but nothing major and the Baby-Q cake was a success!! I am so pleased with the way this turned out and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  

Hop on over to my Facebook Page to watch the video!! If you like it, please let me know and share with your friends who might love it as well! I really appreciate you all so much and can't wait to get started on the next crafty adventure!!! 

Beach Themed photo hanger

Hello there, best crafty friends and fam!! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. These are crazy times for all of us humans and we need each other now more than ever. 💗 I hope that at the very least, I am able to provide you with some interesting projects and information to help get you through all the chaos.  I truly believe that Love, Kindness, Understanding and Patience are lifelines we should all be using right now.  And wherever you are, whatever state your heart is in, please know that you are not alone.  Crafty Sambo is keeping you ALL lifted up and loved. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!  I am going to walk you through my Beach themed photo hanger project. I hope you love it! Maybe you'll learn something new or this will encourage you to create your own photo hanger, whether it's a beach theme like mine or maybe a fall theme. Maybe a lemon or other fruit theme is more your style. That seems to be a very popular decor idea lately!  Maybe you like the little red pick up truck and buffalo check pattern or floral theme.  Whatever you like, you do you, and have fun!!! 

The idea for this photo hanger has been 'hanging' around in my head for so long!! See what I did there!! 😂😂😂

Ok, ok.  My in-laws live in North Carolina and we've gone to the beach with them each time we've visited.  They usually come here to see us, but only once a year. So we try to cram everything we can into that week we have with them.  She is a big fan of the beach, flip flops and all things waterfront!  I think that's where my thoughts originated on the whole beach thing and why the beach reminds me of them so much.  So when I finally decided to start a project for them, I knew it would have to be a beach theme. 

Who doesn't love the beach? Right!? Well I wanted to incorporate pictures because family is everything.  I drew a picture of what I thought I wanted it to look like. Please don't judge, I'm a visual person and slightly OCD so I needed to draw it before I started creating.

I also had to make a list of all the things I thought I might need to create this amazing photo hanger.  I knew I would need to find a wooden sign and several small photo frames.  I found the sign at Hobby Lobby for about $6.  And I found the frames at the Dollar Tree. While at Hobby Lobby I also found some super cute ribbons that were PERFECT for my beach theme!  I wanted to make a messy bow for the top corner. I thought it would really set it off and I've been a little obsessed with them lately. I also found the wooden 'Family' and 'Blessed' signs and the twine at Hobby Lobby. Just a couple bucks for those too. I found some little stars that look like starfish at Michael's in the jewelry section for super cheap!  I think they were 75% off and costed just under $2. I already had the paints and the primer but picked up a couple more small bottles of paint, one with a metallic look. I picked up the wooden dowels/knobs and hearts at Hobby Lobby for around $2.50 each. I also had to buy a jar of gel gloss medium.  This is what was needed for the photo transfer onto the wood. I did watch a bunch of videos and quickly gained the confidence to try it, myself. I opted not to paint the wood before the photo transfer and instead painted the beach scene around it.  I guess my hope was that the photo would adhere better if I placed it directly to the wood. I don't know. I'm not a professional. I'm just winging it. 

I've always wanted to try photo transfer and actually attempted it once, unsuccessfully.  I found out later that I was using the wrong products and just going about it all wrong.  This was before YouTube became a popular resource for learning such things. I found some pictures of us when we went to the beach with my in-laws that I thought would be perfect.  And then, I got this crazy idea to transfer all of our faces onto little wooden hearts!! 

Since I wasn't trying to cover the entire surface with a picture, I was ok with them coming out a little tattered looking.  I thought about how things wash up on the beach and how they look worn and a little beat up from the water.  So this was perfect!  I'll try to walk you though this process briefly but please feel free to ask questions in the comments section if you have any!  First I found the pictures I wanted to use and I cut and pasted them onto a Word document, using the ruler tool to size them to fit the wood. Then I printed them on regular computer paper, not photo paper!! This is important! The one thing I forgot to do that is essential in transferring photos, especially those with words and/or phrases, is to flip the photo before I printed it.  It didn't matter for these, which is great.  I lightly sanded the surface of the wood before I started the transfer process.  Then, I coated the wood with the gel gloss medium.  I think if I wanted the photos to be a little less tattered, I should've used more of that gel medium. But I didn't. So it's all good.  Once the area was coated with the gel medium I simply laid the photo over it, face down and used a little rubber tool to smooth it out so there were no bumps between the photo and the wood.  

Because there were slits in between the planks of wood I was a bit nervous about how this would turn out!  Once it was all smoothed out I did the same thing to the little wooden hearts, covering each one with a face photo. I simply coated the wooden heart and then turned it upside down and placed it on the photo that was lying face up on the table. I thought it was the best way to try to center the faces. I let it dry for an hour or so while I worked on painting the frames.  I really wanted to give the frames a more beachy feel to match the way I wanted to paint the wood sign.  I sanded down the plastic frames the best I could and realized I had no painters tape to protect the glass! I decided to take the little paper that came with the photo out of the frame and put it on the front of the glass.  This way, when I painted, it would hit that paper and then I could just remove it when I was done painting! No mess!! Then I painted a little primer on the frames. I wasn't sure if that was necessary or if it would even help but I was a little concerned about the paint pealing off the plastic. I reached out in my Facebook group to see if anyone had ever done this and got some really good advice but this was the route I chose to take. Hopefully, it's effective and the paint doesn't start pealing off! I did use chalk paint, so that's a plus. 

After the primer I painted a coat of the metallic blue that I bought.  It has a little bit of a pearl finish, I guess.  Then I used the white chalk paint.  Once I had it mostly covered with the white, I grabbed the sanding block and distressed it a little.  Then, I went back and added more white and even a little sand color to make it more beach-y. The bigger frames were a little tougher because the surface was different.  That may have actually been metal. I don't even know. But it wasn't the same plastic surface as the smaller ones. A little challenging, but got 'er done. I also went back and added a little more of the blue pearl-y stuff to the areas that sanded down too far. I didn't want the metal like color coming through.  After I finished the frames I set them aside to dry while I worked on the photo transfers. 

I grabbed a bowl and filled it about 3/4 of the way with water. I grabbed a wash rag and started to dab the back of the pictures, wetting the outside layer of paper.  Once it was good and wet I gently pealed off a layer of paper.  What was left I again gently rubbed (can't peal this part) off the paper with my finger until I could see the entire photo.  The sign took a little longer, not just because the photos took up a bigger area but because the wood finish (or lack thereof) was a little different than the little wooden hearts. You could see in some of the hearts where I didn't use enough gel medium or smooth out the air bubbles enough.  That's where the photo didn't stick as well.  But again, I really wanted to achieve that worn and tattered look. So Yay Me!! Bravo, Sambo. Sorry, gratuitous, virtual back pat totally necessary!

Once I could see the photos clearly as the wood soaked up the colors and the paper was completely removed I coated them with Mod Podge to seal them. I opted for the brush-on Mod Podge as opposed to the spray because I was worried about how it would affect the photo.  Maybe an unrealistic fear, but nevertheless, it worked. 

I set the hearts aside and began the painting of the beach scene on the sign.  This is where things slowed down and I knew I was right not to try to do this on a live video! My goodness that would've been boring and SUPER long!! I had so many ideas and just couldn't decide where to start.  I knew I wanted the waters edge.  I wanted a little bit of a sandy beach and waves washing ashore.  So guess what I did?! I winged it!! 

Since I decided not to use a primer first, the paint really soaked into the wood! I had to use several coats until I got where I wanted to be.  Once that dried, I went back and added more details. I neglected to take another photo of the details until after I added all of the other embellishments but I made the waves a little bolder and added more definition. I discovered during this process that I am not very good at painting waves.  I'll need to work on that.

Now it was time to add the knobs to hang the pictures on.  I painted those with the white chalk paint and then coated them with Mod Podge.  Then I hot glued them to the sign. I didn't measure. I just eyeballed it. I did the two outer knobs first, then the center, then the two in between.  Looks great to me!! What do you guys think?

The 'Blessed' and 'Family' signs were pretty easy but time consuming as well.  Again, I didn't use the primer (I don't know what my major malfunction was!).  I decided to do the edges darker to give it some depth.  They were already darker than the wood with kind of a burnt look.  I almost left them like that! But I really wanted to stick with the color scheme I had going on. Again, it took several coats of paint.  Placement was a challenge as well.  When I bought them, I thought the sign was a tad bigger than it actually is so I had to let it hang over the edges of the sign a little. I think it looks pretty darn cool, myself. I lined it up with the shoreline. So smart, Sambo! 

To hang the photos I alternated the colors of the ribbon, wrapping them around the frame, under the glass before tying them and hanging them on the knobs. Not perfect, but that's ok. The imperfections are what make the piece stand out! Just as winging it is part of the joy of these things! 

I decided to add just a few of the sea stars. I honestly wanted to put ALL of them on there but it was already pretty busy, so I refrained. I think it was just enough! At this point I had to figure out how to incorporate the little wooden hearts. I had no idea where I was going to put them! I ended up cutting some twine and gluing one end to the back of the hearts and hanging them just above each of the frames.  I grouped them, somewhat, putting my in-laws together, me and Barry together, my son and my granddaughter together, my step-daughter, and then my two boys who are still at home together. 

      

Lastly, the messy bow. Guys!!! I've been so obsessed with these!! I don't even know how to do it right.  What I do know is that the few times I've tried, I've apparently gotten the wrong kind of ribbon or something because I give new meaning to MESSY with these things!! Much of the ribbon I used for this one was kind of wide so I cut it down the center to make thinner pieces.  This apparently causes some ribbon to unravel or shred on the edges.  The mess on the table after making this boy was almost as messy as the bow, itself!! But LOOK!!! It's so CUTE!!! Now, it's pretty busy, I know. If you don't know this about me, it's ALWAYS busy!  Soooooo, I made the bow removable.  When my in-laws get this, they can decide if they want it with or without the bow.  

This was such a fun craft for me!! I am very pleased with myself, if you can't tell.  I know it's not prefect and I know it's super busy, but it's exactly what I'd hoped to create.  Some lessons learned, for sure!! But I would happily make several more of these in the same theme or even venture into some different ones!  Maybe next time I'll use the primer first, or use thinner ribbon for the bow and for hanging the frames so it doesn't block so much of the painting on the sign.  Or maybe next time, I'll photo transfer something on the entire surface of the wood! I don't know! The possibilities are endless, y'all!! 

Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by to read my blog. I hope you will share it with other crafty minded people you know.  And if you are not already following me on Facebook, stop by my Facebook Group and check out some of the videos of the crafts I've done. They're entertaining, if nothing else! 😂😝

Have an amazing day, my crafty friends!!! Be well and craft on!!