Earlier this year, I helped host a baby shower for a sweet lady from our church. Jessica and her husband had been hoping for a baby for a while and everyone was thrilled to learn a new baby was on its way. They chose to be surprised as to the gender, so we wanted a gender neutral hostess gift for the baby. I also wanted to do something special that they would be able to keep and enjoy for a long time, so inspired by a shower that Jana recently gave, we decided to make baby blocks at the shower.
I gathered all of the supplies for the craft and tried to make things as easy as possible for those attending. Here are the materials you will need:
I ordered 2" wooden blocks from Glitz Star from Amazon as the base for our design.
These blocks were perfect! It might have okay to use a slightly smaller block, but I really liked this size. In addition, the blocks came in a drawstring bag that was perfect for gift-giving!
Since her nursery colors were gray and yellow, I spray-painted the blocks light gray. They required two coats for even coverage since they were unfinished to begin with. (I set them inside the Amazon box to spray them so I didn't get the paint all over my carport.)
Each person at the shower was to make a block by adhering colored paper to each side, and signing their name on one piece of paper. I chose some simple dotted scrapbook paper that coordinated with the invitations I'd made. While it would be very easy to cut squares with scissors, I used my Silhouette to cut squares (with rounded corners) from the paper.
For the signatures, I used the print & cut feature of my Silhouette to make a signature square. I just printed it onto the same patterned paper (similar shown here) and then fed it into my machine to be cut into rounded squares, as well. You could also just let each person sign one of the squares of scrapbook paper, if you'd rather.
Last, but not least, was my favorite part. I purchased some classic Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen and cut small squares from them as well. Because I wanted to be sure I included the faces, etc., I fussy-cut these by hand rather than using the die-cutter.
On a table, covered with a plastic tablecloth, I had set out all of the painted blocks, plastic plates with Mod Podge in them and a cup to hold pens and paintbrushes. I divided the blocks into patterns pieces and book pieces and had directions posted on the table, but I also supervised the table to be sure everyone understood how to do the activity. (As another part of our hostess gift, we gave a set of melamine dishes that matched the books, so I used these in the setup of this table.)
Directions for the blocks that were posted on the signs were:
I gathered all of the supplies for the craft and tried to make things as easy as possible for those attending. Here are the materials you will need:
- Unfinished blocks
- Patterned or solid scrapbook paper
- Old children's books that you can cut pages from
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Glue
- Fine-tip permanent pens
- Mod-Podge
- Small Foam brushes
I ordered 2" wooden blocks from Glitz Star from Amazon as the base for our design.
Since her nursery colors were gray and yellow, I spray-painted the blocks light gray. They required two coats for even coverage since they were unfinished to begin with. (I set them inside the Amazon box to spray them so I didn't get the paint all over my carport.)
Each person at the shower was to make a block by adhering colored paper to each side, and signing their name on one piece of paper. I chose some simple dotted scrapbook paper that coordinated with the invitations I'd made. While it would be very easy to cut squares with scissors, I used my Silhouette to cut squares (with rounded corners) from the paper.
Last, but not least, was my favorite part. I purchased some classic Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen and cut small squares from them as well. Because I wanted to be sure I included the faces, etc., I fussy-cut these by hand rather than using the die-cutter.
On a table, covered with a plastic tablecloth, I had set out all of the painted blocks, plastic plates with Mod Podge in them and a cup to hold pens and paintbrushes. I divided the blocks into patterns pieces and book pieces and had directions posted on the table, but I also supervised the table to be sure everyone understood how to do the activity. (As another part of our hostess gift, we gave a set of melamine dishes that matched the books, so I used these in the setup of this table.)
- Pick 4 pictures from one of the books.
- Pick 1 patterned piece of paper
- Pick 1 piece of paper with "Made by"
- Sign your name on the "Made by" paper and glue to one side of the block with the Mod Podge.
- Glue the other pieces to the other sides of the block.
I took all of the blocks home and gave them another coat of Mod Podge before delivering them. That was it! Super simple, but they turned out really cute and made such a sweet, memorable gift for the new baby--who turned out to be a baby girl!!
