DIY Alphabet Blocks :: Monthly DIY Challenge

Date
Oct, 14, 2015

It’s time for another Monthly DIY Challenge! You know the drill; every second Wednesday of the month, I get together with some of my bloggy buds and we create a DIY based on the same theme or out of the same material. We’ve recently done pegboard and fabric, and this month was craft wood!

What exactly is craft wood? It’s a broad theme, but essentially it’s thin wood, like Balsa Wood or plywood that you can cut super easily without power tools. My product of choice was Balsa Wood, which I’ve used a bunch of times before and just love. It’s so easy to work with and you can literally use scissors to cut it.

DIY ALPHABET BLOCKS

DIY wooden alphabet blocks

Now that we’ve moved into a new home, I’m really only trying to create projects that I know I’m going to use in our decor. Good thing I need to decorate pretty much every room in our house, so I’ve got a lot of possibilities. The living room is coming along quite nicely, which you can check out here, and my other main room of focus is of course the nursery.

I already shared this DIY Feather Mobile I made, and next week I’ll be revealing the little MCM piece of furniture I painted mint. It turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself 😉

I’ve got a lot of the larger pieces for the nursery planned out already, so now it’s time to start focusing on some of the smaller details. Alphabet blocks are a common piece of décor used in nurseries, but the typical rainbow colored ones don’t exactly mesh with the rest of the aesthetic in the room. I thought it would be fun to create my own, on a much larger scale. Keep in mind these are only for décor and aren’t really meant to be played with.


MATERIALS

Two pieces of balsa wood

X-Acto Knife

Hot glue gun

Cardboard letters

White Spray Paint


I did say you can cut Balsa Wood with scissors, which you can, but I used pieces that were a little thicker and can sometimes cause splitting. No bueno. I used an X-Acto knife to make sure I got straight lines.

use balsa wood for easy diy

My pieces were 4 inches wide, so to make sure I had square blocks, I cut 3 pieces that were 4×4 . Then I cut two smaller pieces that you’ll kind of have to eye ball, to fit in between the other pieces on the sides.

diy wooden alphabet blocks

You can totally add a bottom if you want, but since these are mainly for décor, I decided to leave it off.

Using your hot glue gun, glue on the inside only, where the two pieces of wood meet. I started with the 4×4 pieces, and then added the other two last.

diy alphabet blocks

Of course I had a little bit of unevenness happening, so this is where I use my scissors to do a little trimming and make sure the blocks sat flat.

balsa wood alphabet blocks

At this point, I was really torn about how I wanted to finish the blocks. Typical ones are wooden with colored letters, but I had a few ideas I was tossing around. All white with gold letters? Some sort of geometric pattern? All wood with white letters? All wood with the letters as is? I wanted to keep them somewhat neutral and not overdo it with the mint and peach.

wood alphabet letters

Bloggy buds to the rescue. The consensus was wooden with white letters, so that’s what I went with and I’m glad I did.

I had the hubs spray paint the letters white for me.  Then I used my hot glue gun to attach them. It looked funny with letters on the top of the two bottom blocks, so I decided to leave them off!

I put A, B and C on the fronts, but other than that I just threw on some random letters.

I love how big they are and how I only need 3 to make a cute little vignette that sits perfectly on top of my new mint piece.

Modern alphabet blocks

modern nursery decor

diy nursery block decor

I’ve done my fair share of research on nursery décor and there are some pricey items out there. Plus it’s hard to find things that fit the look I’m going for. So of course the solution: DIY, duh. Of course I won’t be DIYing everything.  But, you can definitely expect some more nursery crafts from me and of course some nursery printables.

Don’t forget to check out all the other awesome craft wood projects below!

DIY alphabet wooden blocks

brepurposed

23 Comments

  1. Reply

    Amanda @ Dwelling in Happiness

    October 26, 2015

    These are so adorable!! And super easy, which I love. I think I may have to make a set of these bad boys for our new babe, too!!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 27, 2015

      Thanks girl! I definitely think your little babe needs some 😉

  2. Reply

    Erin

    October 16, 2015

    Yeah! DIYs for baby 🙂 These are adorable. Can’t wait to see the whole nursery and the little bambino enjoying it!!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Thanks Erin!! Nurserys are so fun to decorate!

  3. Reply

    Katie @ Little House of Four

    October 15, 2015

    Super cute! They are going to make such a great addition to your nursery. Your little one is so lucky to have such a talented mamma!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Aw thanks Katie!! xo

  4. Reply

    Lindsay - Shrimp Salad Circus

    October 14, 2015

    These are so sweet – I love how they’re a beautiful reminder of childhood toys but are such a nice neutral, too!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Thanks Lindsay! I’m trying not to overdo it with the mint and peach ha.

  5. Reply

    Sarah @ Little Red Brick House

    October 14, 2015

    So adorable, Bre! I’m dying to see your finished nursery! I know it’s going to be amazing. 🙂

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Thanks Sarah!! I can’t wait to finish it and share!

  6. Reply

    Christina @ Operation Home

    October 14, 2015

    The perfect addition to any nursery!!! These are so clever and super cute!!!!! 🙂

  7. Reply

    Bre @ Average But Inspired

    October 14, 2015

    Aw, these are so sweet! I can’t wait for your nursery to be finished. It’s going to be adorable. Pinned your project! My kids had alphabet blocks in their nursery, too, but they weren’t handmade, which would have been much more special!

  8. Reply

    Marie from The Interior Frugalista

    October 14, 2015

    Very cute Bre! I can’t wait to see your nursery reveal – I have no doubt it’s going to be adorable, judging by these blocks, the feather mobile, and other elements you’ve given us sneak peaks of!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Thanks Marie!! It’s coming together and I can’t wait to share it all!

  9. Reply

    Kristi

    October 14, 2015

    Seriously, how cute are these?! LOVE!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 23, 2015

      Thanks Kristi!!

  10. Reply

    Amy | Canary Street Crafts

    October 14, 2015

    These are so cute, Bre! I can’t wait to see your nursery completely finished. Btw, Happy Birthday!!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      October 14, 2015

      Thank you Amy!!! xo

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Hi, I’m Bre! Follow along as we renovate our current home and share modern DIY ideas.
 

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