Wood Photo Blocks

Thank you to my cousin Janna for introducing

me to an amazing craft.... Wooden Photo Blocks!

 

I made 15 of these blocks for Christmas gifts. This was

a craft that *gasp* my husband wanted me to make, and he

actually helped me make them! They were gifts

for his family members, and they will all end up being

displayed in the cabin that we are in the process of building.

 

This is a fairly simple project, it was just a little time consuming

for me, considering I made 15 of them all at once.

 

Materials:

wood blocks cut to size

photos printed on computer paper

gel medium

foam paintbrush

spatula or something similar

mod podge

rag and bowl of warm water

 

Directions:

First, you need to get some blocks of wood.

You can buy wood at Home Depot or Lowe's, and they should cut

you the sizes that you need. I got mine from my brother, who

builds houses, and my husband cut them for me. Have the

wood cut a little bit bigger than your picture-if your picture

is 4x6, cut the wood to be 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 or close to that.

 

Print pictures from the computer onto regular computer

paper. Flip the image horizontally so it is backwards before

printing. I only did black and white photos because I like

how that looks, but the process is supposed to work with color

photos as well.

 

Using a foam brush, spread on the gel medium (can be bought at

craft stores, I got mine at AC Moore) to cover the wood.

Also spread gel medium on the photo. Place the photo, picture

side down, on the wood. Use a spatula or similar item to gently rub

the photo so it lays flat on the wood and be sure to work out any

air bubbles. I spread out newspaper to work on and ended up getting
quite a bit of the gel medium on the newspaper - it's also pretty
sticky, so I had to replace my newspaper a couple times too.

 

Let the photo dry. I waited overnight. Then, use a rag and warm water to

gently rub off the paper (this can get messy - the paper residue will be

all over the place!)  Don't use too much pressure or else you will rub

parts of the picture off the wood. I let each picture dry in front of a fan

for a few minutes to see where there was still paper residue. It took about

three times to get all the paper off. Once all the paper is off, and the wood is

dry, and then add a coat of mod podge over the picture and let that dry.

 

 If your wood block base is thick enough like mine, you can just stand

the pictures up to display. You could also add hooks on the back of

the wood to hang it on a wall, or attach ribbon/twine to hang it.
Another option would be to cut cubes out of the wood, and put pictures
on all sides of the cube.

 

I loved how this project turned out, and so did all of my in-laws!
Our cabin is on Summersville Lake, so I used a lot of pictures to represent
what the family enjoys doing while we are there - swimming, wake boarding,

surfing, rock climbing, camping, etc. They are gonna look great!