Wood Carved Blocks - Just Something I made

I recently made my niece some custom wood-burned blocks for her 1st birthday using my trusty wood burning tool and some pre-cut wood blocks from my local craft supply store.

My original intention was to decorate each block with one letter and add one or two designs, leaving some sides bare on each block. Somehow they just did not feel complete, so before i knew it, my birthday present was belated, but I had all 6 sides covered!  

Each woodland themed design you see is my own, which I first sketched on paper, then on the block, finally burning with a wood burning tool (similar to a soldering iron).

The font for the numbers and letters shown in the above images is Cooper Black, a serif font that should come standard on your PC or Mac.

I hope my niece has a ball (or a cube) with these blocks!

 I also hope to reuse some of these designs in other projects soon!

Tutorial: Baby Stuff

My mom sent me this link today with a really cute way to improve upon those old alphabet magnets. Check out the tutorial from Plum Pudding! Would make a great baby shower craft.

Tres Bois: Wooden YoYo

Since I did a post on faus bois yesterday, I thought I'd follow up with some real bois today.



Yo-Yo like a boss with this sweet hand-crafted wooden classic complete with Cocobolo, Maple, and Wenge hardwoods and racing stripe design from etsy shop CreativeAddictions09 !

Perfect timing since my friend at work asked me the other day "when are you going to get some word working up there (on my blog)". This person also happens to be quite the yo-yo'er. So here it is, a woodworked Yo-Yo.

You know who you are.

Homemade Stuff: Baby Blocks

My good friends Joseluis and Elisabeth just had a beatiful baby girl which inevitably got me thinking about making baby stuff again (DO NOT READ: making babies). Fortunately, there is an endless list of great baby crafts and gifts to make at home. For example, last year I made some really cute baby blocks for my niece's first Christmas shown below in a photo taken by my talented Photographer friend, Todd Parsons:

(I wish all my blog photos were this nice!) Check out the video tutorial at MarthaStewart.com. I picked up the unfinished wood blocks at my local crafting store along with some great scrap booking papers to decorate them with. For a personal touch, I painted one letter of my niece's name on each the blocks. And to give the blocks a strong, baby-resitant seal, I brushed on a coat of satin polyurethane so my little niece will have these when she has little ones!

What is your favorite baby craft?