Instructions

1. Paint wood blocks with desired color of yellow. I mixed White Chalk Paint and the two yellow acrylic paints together in a small disposable plastic food storage container.
2. Start with a large dollop of White Chalk Paint and add the dark and light yellow paints a little at a time. Stir the yellow paint into the white paint until desired color is achieved.
3. Use a sponge paint brush to paint the wood blocks. It isn’t necessary to paint the areas that will be glued together, but you can if you want to.
4. Use Hot Glue to adhere the blocks together. Make sure to line the blocks up quickly before the glue sets, which should take less than a minute.
5. Create the wording for your stacked books.
6. Make 3 separate Text Boxes in Cricut Design Space, one text box for each word. Type one word in each Text Box. Choose desired font for each word. Re-size the font to less than 1 inch to insure each word will fit on side of the wood blocks. I chose Verdana font at size 60px.
7. Line up the words as you want them to look on your stacked books. Add a binding box around the words using the Square Shape Tool. Move the box layer underneath all the word layers. Resize the box shape to fit close to the words so not to waste vinyl. Attach all layers together.
8. Cut the wording using your Cricut Machine.
9. Lay out the permanent black vinyl on a Blue LightGrip Mat and push the “Load” button on your machine. Set your machine dial to “Vinyl” and use a fine-point blade.
10. Click the “Make It” button in Design Space. The “Prepare” Screen will appear and you can move your design to the desired place on your cutting mat.
11. Click the “Continue” button at the bottom of the screen.
12. Push the “Cut” button on your machine.
13. Once the design is cut, push the “Load” button again to eject the mat.
14. Weed the vinyl around the words using a weeding tool.
15. Cut 3 strips of transfer tape, slightly larger than each word. Remove the backing from one of the Transfer Tape strips and place over one word. Use the burnishing tool to adhere the vinyl to the transfer tape. Follow the same process for the other 2 words.
16. Line up the words on the sides of your wood blocks. Use the burnishing tool to rub the vinyl on to the wood. Remove the transfer tape slowly, leaving the vinyl on the wood.
17. Wrap the Buffalo Check ribbon around the wood blocks. Start and finish the ribbon ends on the top of the wood blocks. Use hot glue to adhere the ribbon. This is a good time to use silicon finger tips because the hot glue will seep through the ribbon and on to your fingers.
18. Wrap the Jute string three times around the wood blocks aligning it in the center of the ribbon. Again, start and finish the string on the top of the wood blocks and use hot glue to secure.
19. By wrapping one side with Jute string, the wood blocks will sit slightly off. I added a half loop of Jute string to the opposite side, on the bottom of the wood. This makes the wood blocks sit level.
    
20. This is the top view of the wood blocks, showing the slightly messy look of the glued ends of the ribbon and string. This will be covered by the flower and leaves.
21. Snip one sunflower from the floral pick, leaving a short piece of stem. Gauge the best placement for the flower and glue the stem to the top of the ribbon and string. Glue two bunches of leaves behind the flower, covering up the glued ends of the ribbon and string.
22. Hot glue the Bee button to the front of the wood blocks.