As part of a volunteer community service project, we made 3D block letter decorative signs for the walls of the main library at one of the local elementary schools in our area. 

We created 3D block-style letters out of thick white cardstock and then made a colorful graphic textile design on the fronts of them. The colorful textile was created by collaging various images of book covers and maps.  

We made 3D block letter signs for 3 of the main library sections: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Travel.

You can definitely draw out the shape of the letters and then cut them out with scissors or a utility knife.  I loved the varsity-style letters and just ordered a set from Etsy since it was already set up as an SVG which is easy to resize and cut with the machines. 

I used a Cricut cutting machine for this project but you could definitely use scissors or a utility knife if you do not have a cutting machine.  I chose to use a cutting machine to keep the cuts precise, save myself some time, and to be honest I just love using my Cricut! Lol.

I’m including a list of the materials I used and any links I can find to the specific or similar products. But if you have similar materials at home, feel free to swap out and use what you have and let the creative juices flow!

Materials that I used: (I’ve linked what I can, some *affiliate links may be included). 

12″x12″ white cardstock

hot glue gun + glue sticks

Cricut Maker (or scissors or utility knife)

color printer (optional if you want to print out book covers or other patterns to do a collage)

(*I may earn a small commission on any purchase made using my affiliate links, it does not have any additional cost and in some cases, it may include a discount on your purchase. Any discounts or discount codes will be noted at the time of purchase and are controlled by the retailer.)

I used the block letters from this Etsy store and downloaded the SVG files. I cut out the letters that I needed and then folded them based on the instructions and used hot glue to keep them firmly in place.

I printed out a collection of book cover images in small sizes and created a colorful collage on the front of the FICTION and NONFICTION letters.  For the TRAVEL letters, I took pieces of old maps and created a collage on the front of the letters.

Once everything dried, we mounted them to a larger posterboard to be installed on the wall at the school’s library! This was a very fun project and was a joy to be able to contribute to brightening up the elementary school’s library. 🙂

It’s no secret at all that I love Christmas decor, like “big-vinyl-sticker-I-heart-Christmas” love Christmas decor. Lol, I’ve made so many Christmas crafts, ornaments, and decor pieces over the years but honestly, I’m sorely lacking in photos and videos of so many of them! I also lost a lot of footage and image files. I’ve already sulked and cried about it … moving on.

I’m going to do my best to share pics of the older projects that I’ve worked on, but, like this project, I do not have any before or step-by-step photos. But I will share what I have for this one and any other of the older projects, and for the more current and future projects – because let’s be honest we all know there will be more to come – I am much better at documenting with photos and videos. What’s that saying about repetition?

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to this blog post’s topic: Christmas ornament ball trees and wreaths!

Let’s start with the Christmas Ornament Trees, these were mini trees I had the best time making. I chose different color themes and sizes. These made excellent tabletop decorations, standing on the fireplace hearth, and great little gifts.

For the base, I tried out a few different materials: the cardboard spherical cones, and the styrofoam cones, and I even tried shaping leftover cardboard into a cone and stuffing the inside with craft paper (newspaper will do too) to keep the shape.

For the balls, I gathered a variety of ornament ball sizes and glued them in a freestyle manner on the cone. I used hot glue and bravery because the fingertips did take an ‘L” or two, not going to lie. LOL.

For some of the trees, I added a little bit of tinsel or garland to sprinkle in and create a bit more fullness.

One note of caution, some of the ornament balls have glitter so be prepared for a glittery sparkly mess!