The play kitchen and block food were completed just hours before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. We thought that the block play food was a perfect addition to Willa’s pantry and would be durable to a very rough-and-tumble 16 month old.
I found the labels through pinterest, which led us to The Sew*er, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker’s Blog, then we simplified the instructions (only because I am notorious for not reading the instructions…ask Andrew every time we buy Ikea furniture). Andrew printed the labels at work and we used left over 2″x4″s to complete create the project.
Here are the materials that we used with costs:
2″x4″ —Left over from previous project, Free!
Acrylic Craft paint in Bright Yellow, Festive Green, True Blue, and True Red — $0.99 each
Kilz White Primer — Left over from previous Project, Free!
Mod Podge — Left over from previous project, Free!
Spray Acrylic —Left over from previous project, Free!
Labels — Free!
I cut out each of the labels, then laid them our on the 2″x4″s. I left a 1/4 inch boarder around each label. I used a ruler and pencil to mark where Andrew should make the cuts (I have not mustered up the courage to use the circular saw yet). A little tip is to number the back of your labels and to number each piece of wood…saves a ton of time!
I did a quick sand on the cut ends to prevent splinters in little fingers. Then I primed. I don’t think that priming is absolutely necessary, but it further seals the wood. When the primer was dried, each block got two coats of the craft paint. I just matched the main color in the label to which color to paint each block. Cheap ten cent foam brushes from the craf store worked great.
Then it was Mod Podge time. So there are a million Mod Podge accessories on the market…and I am a little cheap thrifty, so instead of buying any of them, I have found the following to work pretty well. I put a thin coat of the Mod Podge on the surface and place the label. Then I use an old credit card or gift card to smooth out the bubbles. I typically go over an item a few times applying moderate pressure with the card. When we are bubble free, I add a top coat smoothing it as best as I can. I choose to go glossy with the Mod Podge anytime I will be using spray acrylic. Last step was two coats of spray acrylic to protect the blocks .
They turned our great. Willa LOVES to play with them. Her favorites are the butter and the broccoli. No surprise with veggies, but maybe she does have a little bit of Southern in her with the butter after all!
modernlyhomemade 