Could This Simple DIY Decor Be Your Best Seller? Easy Craft Fair Blocks & Ornaments

If you sell at craft fairs, markets or in a booth, you already know the secret: the pieces that move aren't always the big, fancy ones. It's the little things. The ones that cost you almost nothing to make, look like a million bucks on the table, and make a shopper laugh out loud before they pick one up. This week I made two of those projects, and I honestly think one of them could be your next best seller.

Scrap Wood Blocks Into DIY Decor Gifts

Let's start with the cheapest wood there is: a 2x4. Cut a 2x4 into squares and you get a chunky little block with a 3.5 inch face, perfect for a shelf, a tiered tray or a mantel. If you have scrap pieces in the garage (or a woodturner husband with a scrap bin, ahem), even better.

I did the math for you. An 8 foot 2x4 runs about $4 right now, and you can get roughly 25 blocks out of one board. That's less than 20 cents of wood per block. Add paint, a printed design and decoupage medium, and you're still at about $1 per finished block. That is the kind of margin craft fair sellers dream about.

Storybook Blocks: The Joke Is What Sells the Block

Here's what makes these blocks different. Each one gets a sweet vintage storybook character on the front, and then a funny typewriter saying strip glued across the bottom. Pair a grumpy little cardinal with "Not a morning person. Or an afternoon person." and suddenly it isn't just decor. It's a gift for a coworker, a teacher, a sister, that one friend who needs her coffee before you talk to her.

There are three character packs, each with 30 designs and the saying strips included:

• Storybook Blocks: Christmas Elves - cheeky elves with attitude
• Storybook Blocks: Expressive Snowmen - rosy-cheeked snowmen giving the shovel some serious side-eye
• Storybook Blocks: Winter Birds - fluffed-up backyard birds in tiny knit hats (these sell straight through February)

The art has no words on it, so any saying goes on any character. Mix and match them however you like, and make each block a little different.

Want more sayings?

I just released the Storybook Blocks Sayings Expansion Pack: 300 brand-new saying strips (100 snarky, 100 office and 100 personality sayings), none of them repeats from the character packs. "This meeting could have been an email." "Chaos in a cardigan." "My silence is a gift." They're sized for 3.5 inch and 5.5 inch blocks, and they fit 3 inch ornament rounds too.

Decoupage Wooden Blocks for Cheap and Easy DIY Decor

The technique couldn't be simpler:

1. Paint or sand your block. Let it dry.
2. Print a block sheet on regular paper or rice paper. The squares print at 3.375 inches, a hair under the face of a 2x4 block, so the paper sits neatly inside the rounded edges.
3. Cut out a character and a saying strip or two.
4. Glue them down with decoupage medium, then seal with a coat or two on top.
5. Distress the edges with sandpaper if you love the worn, vintage look.

I chose to print these on rice paper, but regular printer paper works just fine also. A top coat makes the perfect decoupage medium for this level of project. My key tip to high quality decoupage? Use the medium to stick the paper to the surface, but wait until that's dry to do the coat OVER the paper. This will eliminate or minimize any bubbles on the surface. If you are batch making, then by the time you are done with the last block, you can probably just start back at the beginning to do the top coat! 

Vintage Style Christmas Ornaments on 3 Inch Wood Rounds

Project number two uses 3 inch wooden rounds and my Vintage Style Christmas Ornaments: 132 old-world designs (Belsnickels, primitive snowmen, Victorian angels, dressed woodland animals and candlelit fairies), each already cut into a perfect 3 inch circle. Print at 100%, cut on the line, and it fits the round exactly. No resizing, no guessing.

And here's a fun twist: those funny saying strips work on the ornaments too. A sweet Victorian hedgehog that says "Not a hugger." is exactly the kind of thing people buy two of, one for themselves and one to give away.

Easy Ways to Enhance Craft Fair Projects

A few small finishing touches are what take a project from "homemade" to "I need that." In the video I show how I use an ink pad and blender brushes to age the edges, so the paper and the wood look like they've always belonged together.

Upscale these little blocks by painting them different colors, adding bows, greenery, and more. As the creator, this is an easy project to create simple and unique differences matching personality types. Making someone laugh is often the first (and easiest) way to make a sale. 

What I used

• 3" wooden rounds
• StazOn ink pad
• Ink blender brushes
• Decoupage medium, craft paint, sandpaper and a 2x4 (or your scrap pile)

Why These Make Great Craft Fair Inventory

Low cost, fast to make, easy to batch, and they appeal to just about everyone who walks past your table. Make a dozen of each while you're watching TV and you have a full shelf of inventory for the price of a fancy coffee. Price them so the funny ones are an easy impulse buy, and keep a few on hand for teacher and coworker gifts.

Back when we did markets, fall events usually ranged from $7-10K in sales for a 3-day weekend. (Our best ever show was the year following COVID. We sold over $16K in holiday decor!) I would probably have made over 100 of the blocks and another 50 of the ornaments, all with different sayings, and priced them at around $8.95 each. In our booths, at vintage stores, I would have had no less than 12-24. These are fast and easy sellers. 

Which project are you going to try first, the blocks or the ornaments? Let me know in the comments on the video. And if you make them, I'd love to see them!

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