Tutorial - Make Your Own Alphabet Blocks

I am 35 weeks pregnant as of today and I had a friend of mine take some maternity pictures of me. I've seen some really cute photos with mommies-to-be holding wooden blocks with "BABY" or the baby's name in the photos. But instead of buying a whole set of alphabet blocks, I thought I'd try to make my own!

I found these wooden blocks at Ben Franklin for $0.99 each.
Since we are waiting until baby arrives to find out the gender, I got 4 blocks to spell out B-A-B-Y.

I picked out some scrapbook paper and punched out 4 squares that were just a little smaller then the wood blocks.
Next, I painted the blocks with black paint
Then I slathered on a layer of Mod Podge on one side of each block...
as well as the backside of the scrapbook paper and then centered the paper on the block.
I had some stencils that fit perfectly inside the paper, so I used a small round sponge brush to dab a little paint over the stencil.

*NOTE: Don't get too much paint on the brush, or the paint will ooze under the stencil and leave you with a globby looking letter. (Trust me, I know)
Allow the paint to dry completely.

I put a layer of Mod Podge over the stenciled letters for a glossy finish.
Let dry!

And Voila!

You can put paper on each side of the blocks for a variety, and stencil letters too, but I was on a time crunch and needed them later that day, so I just did one letter per block. I'll go back and add the rest later!

Here are the blocks in action: