Photo Block: Before and After

What a busy time this is!  I'm hurrying to get my Christmas gifts done for my neighbors and friends and thought I'd give you a  peek at what I'm working on today.  Wait 'til you see what this photo block looked like before!

A couple of months ago I found these photo blocks.  The retail price was $2.50 each, but they were on clearance for 90% off, making them only .25 each!  I figured that the photo pick alone was worth .25 so I bought a bunch of them, with plans to make them over.

Here are the steps from start to finish...

I pretty much followed the same steps that I used in the paint stick ornaments tutorial if you'd like more details. 

1. Original block (not exactly what I had in mind).
2. Scraped off the shapes that were glued on. (I saved them to use on future projects.)
3. Painted the block.  I used 2 coats of craft paint to cover up the shiny bright paint.  I was too busy lazy to sand them, but in my defense, the paint was really hard! :)
4. Cut squares of scrapbook paper, distressed the edges, and Mod Podged them onto the block.
5. Mod Podged over the paper and all of the paint. (The Mod Podge, I'm hoping, will protect the paint so it doesn't chip off of the original paint, remember, I was too busy lazy to sand them.
6. Added a jute bow.
7. Added vinyl with each family's last name initial.  (Instead of vinyl, you could print whatever you want onto the paper following these steps.)

So here's the before... 

...and the after.

As soon as I have them all put together, I'll show you how I'm using the photo blocks in the gifts. 

Todays Fabulous Find...Twenty-five Cent Photo Block Holders!  

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