Happy Birthday To My BFF!

Here's my first attempt at wood photo blocks.  These are a present for my best friend from...well, let's see, from elementary school, I guess.  Isn't it great to have a friend who you can call up and talk to about anything and not worry about being judged or just being able to vent and not feel like you are burdening someone?  That's what I have with my BFF, Beth.  Beth and I have been able to maintain this fantastic relationship even though we've lived in different counties and states since high school.  When we were kids, we use to go on family vacations together, go to Camp Hebron together, field hockey camp, work out over the summers together before the dreaded preseason, spend summer afternoons at the Millersville Pool, worked at one of the WORST jobs in the world together - picking blueberries for Funks, suffering through our first pregnancies together, etc.  We've been through the good and the bad and no matter where we are in terms of our physical location, we know that we can always pick up right where we left off.

Beth's birthday was this month and I have been dying to try to make these wood photo blocks that I've been seeing on so many crafty blogs.  Here is my first attempt:

Andy was supposed to cut the wood for me before he left on a business trip, but as all good plans, it never happened.  So I broke out the power tools!  I used a circular saw to cut the 2x6 into the right sized pieces and then a hand sander to get rid of all the rough edges.  Next I spray painted the blocks black and mod podged thick scrapbook paper to the blocks.  Once that was dry, I sanded the edges - on the B&W's I also distressed the edges with a distressed ink pad.  Then I mod podged the pictures to the blocks.  On the bottom one, I cut the letters out in vinyl on my cricut and then transfered them to the block.  Voila!  You could even staple a long piece of ribbon to the back of the last one and make it into a wall hanging or hang it over a door knob.  I'll let that decision up to Beth.  

I'm thinking that I may make some for us to put up on our family room mantel.  That's where I took these pictures and they looked pretty good up there.  On my next trip to Home Depot, I think I'm going to grab a few 4x4 posts to cut down into squares and then paint, and cut vinyl letters to spell out words for different seasons/holidays, etc.  Oh, the possibilities are ENDLESS!