Blocks for Every Season
6 Materials
$35
60 Hours
Advanced
As space for home decor shrinks, our decorations must become more multi-functional or really special - Special enough to keep up all year long. I solved this little problem by turning a 4 X 4 fence post into blocks and decorating them for the four different seasons. And, because a square block has 6 unadorned sides, I decided to add two more decorated sides for special interest that I can show whenever I feel the need for something different. This is how I started. I went to the lumber store and picked up a 4 X 4 fence post. Then I had my wonderful husband use his skill and mighty muscles to cut the post into 4" x 4" square blocks. I then sanded down each side and painted each side with White, Glossy Acrylic Craft Paint. I knew that I would be handling each side multiple times and I did NOT want any slivers in my "all too valuable" crafting hands. Because you always have to leave one side unpainted for the cubes to sit on to dry, it did take some time to get them all painted, on all six sides, twice! I decided to do 6 blocks as the names of the seasons could most usually be spelled with six letters. Now the fun could REALLY start.
I started with Autumn. I chose a "Fallish" looking background paper, printed up some awesome letters to go with the paper. Then I needed to ink around the letters with black ink to make them stand out. I chose and cut out a thin framelette to go under the letters, adorned the letters with some coordinating punches and some eyelets. I tried to make each letter different to keep up the interest. The shape that I chose for the background paper for this side of the blocks was all the same to unify the word. Only the decorations on the letters and the embellishments were different. This was the Autumn Side. I followed the same procedures for each of the other sides, with some variations that I will tell you about as I go.
Next was Winter. The shape of the paper background was different and it was shaded a little bit to look like a cold and snowy window. The letters were even snowy, and it was fun to put snowflake shaped eyelets on the paper for a three dimensional look and feel to this side, too, (as I had done on the Autumn side). All the sides had some element of sparkle to them, whether it was with some sparkley embossing material, or glitter paper, or other elements. It just made it feel more special to me to have a little "bling" on each side.
Next came Spring with the blooming flowers and budding leaves. This flowered background paper was a little wild as the season of Spring tends to be. I tried to tame things down with some silver embossing outlines cornered by some sweet little silver flowered eyelettes to tie them all together. The letters of the word Spring had leaves "springing" out from all over the letters on it. Each side had it's own personality. They were each so much fun to think of and make.
But, I think my favorite one, has to be Summer! These letters were popsicles that were melting and had flip-flops with feet walking across the letters. Even the toenails were painted on the bare feet. And, there were little jewels on the flip-flops. This background paper had all the fun things on it that we do as kids during the summertime. The blocks were surrounded by gold embossed outlines with punched out yellow suns in the corners of each block. So, now that the seasons were complete, what would I put on the other two sides?
To me, there was no question. Family is just one of the most important things to me IN my life. So, I took the same paper and embossed a different design on each square of paper for each letter. We have 6 people in our family and each of us are certainly different from each other. But, we are unified in goals and purposes and love. This is what I tried to symbolize here.
And, the last side was ALWAYS. We have a motto in our family. It is: We Can Do Hard Things. Our family has received so many rich blessings and even though life tries us and tarnishes us, we know that we will ALWAYS be a family because we love each other. And, that's where our treasures are - in each other. We Are Golden! Now, it's your turn to make your own blocks and put meaning to your life seasons and extra special words to decorate your home. It's a very fun project made even more fun by the love and thoughts you put into it.
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