How To Make Red, White, and Blue Vintage Wooden Blocks

To make cute vintage red, white, and blue wooden blocks, all it takes is wooden blocks, paint, paint brushes, Mod Podge, and some printed vintage 4th of July graphics. This idea came about because of all of the cute tiered tray displays I see on Pinterest.

Well, a white metal-tiered tray caught my eye at Michael’s. It was 50% off. With the 4th just around the corner, the idea for a patriotic display soon took over my imagination. The little 4 x 6 flags are not on sale, but they are only 99 cents each. I pick up five of these for this display. A patriotic hand towel at half-off also ended up in the cart. It’s the end of June and the 4th of July things are pretty picked over at this point.

Dollar Tree Items

How To Make Vintage Red, White, and Blue Wooden Blocks — Patriotic hanging

At this point, I realize I need some more little items and make a quick trip to the Dollar Tree. Their patriotic section is picked over, too. However, I see this “3-plaque hanging” and think how cute the individual cardboard signs will look in the tray. All that is holding it together is a couple of satin ribbons.

Back in the craft section, I spot the wooden blocks. Each side measures 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 inches. The idea to print out some vintage 4th of July graphics and decorate the cubes came to mind.

Vintage Wooden Blocks

For This Project, you’ll need:

Wooden blocks
Red RUST-OLEUM Spray paint
Printed Vintage graphics
Scissors, paper cutter, or X-Acto knife, straight edge, and cutting mat
RUST-OLEUM Clear Topcoat
Gloss Mod Podge
1-inch flat brush

Fortunately, this Rust-Oleum craft & hobby Imagine red lacquer spray paint is in my stash. This spray paint is for wood, metal, and glass. Take this outside, cover the grass with cardboard or something, and spray light coats of paint on each side of the cubes. Be sure to allow a few minutes between each coat.

Print And Prepare The Vintage Graphics

You can find all kinds of vintage graphics online. My favorite spot is GraphicsFairy.com. I right-click on the images and click “save image” to a folder on my laptop. Then, using PicMonkey, I upload them to a blank canvas. You can use your favorite photo editing tool.

I first chose the 8.5″ x 11″ blank template. PicMonkey has a grid option where you can choose rows and columns. Type in 5 rows and 4 columns. On the top left, choose ‘add image’. Choose the option from “Computer”. Then, add the graphics you saved from your computer file.

Resize them to fit in the grid squares you created earlier or choose a portion of the pictures to fit in the squares. You can see that I used only a portion of the graphics. The grid helped isolate the area I wanted.

You can then move them away from the edges of the paper, leaving space between them, too.

Then, print out the graphics. I like to topcoat the graphics with a clear topcoat so the ink won’t bleed when the Mod Podge is applied.

It’s easier to do this before you cut out the 2-inch squares! A third of the way into cutting the graphics out, I remembered this! It’s not a big deal, but those fly around a lot more than the ones on the sheet.

You will need 6 graphics for each cube. Notice that you need to crop the pictures to a 2-inch square for these blocks. You don’t want to make them 2-1/4 – inches. You’ll have problems with the corners and the red background makes a nice frame. I used a paper cutter but you can use a straight-edge, cutting mat, X-Acto, or scissors.

Glue The Vintage Graphics To The Wooden Blocks

Then, apply Mod Podge to the back of the graphics. At this point, the paper didn’t want to grab the wood really well. So, I also painted the flat surface of the block. Then, center the graphic on the cube. Gently press the paper onto the wooden cube.

How To Make Red, White, and Blue Vintage Wooden Blocks — Apply the Mod Podge over the Graphic

Next, apply a coat of Mod Podge over the graphic. Be sure the edges are pressed down against the wood. You can easily work on the other three sides and the top, allow those to dry a while, and then finish the bottom. This gloss Mod Podge dries relatively quickly after application.

Apply another coat of the Mod Podge over each side. You can paint the Mod Podge over all of the sides except one. Then, when the sides are dry, paint the last side. Make sure the glue doesn’t glob on the edges.