Ruffled Crepe Paper Heart

Rain, rain, rain, sleet, more rain and sleet.  That is the weather we have been experiencing the last two days.  Ugh.   The only thing this weather is good for is to keep us inside.  When I am inside, I accomplish things.  Crafting and cooking would be two of the things accomplished.  So, I guess it's really not so bad that the weather is ugly.  But, I am ready for some sunshine.  Just sayin'.

It was time to decorate my "shutter" and cabinet top for Valentine's Day since the mantel was complete.   A heart.  That's what I wanted because what could be more representative of Valentines' Day?  I had some things that I could use to make decorations with, or I could use last years decorations.  With time on my hands, I opted for making something new.

It was very hard to get the pictures to not look like the heart had been irradiated by something nuclear.  Some colors are very difficult to photograph and pink and red together happen to be two of those colors.

I tried taking pictures with the lights on, with the lights off, with some lights on, and every combination I could think of.  No luck.  The heart looked like it glowed from within and you could not see any of the detail.  It looked like a big glowing orange flame ball.  So, the next best thing was to show a close up which is not perfect, but is somewhat better.

Now, you can see some of the detail which is really quite adorable in actuality.  All the ruffles make the heart look like the lid of a Valentine candy box or a big ruffled pillow.

Once again, I started with no particular plan other than knowing I wanted a heart to hang on the shutter.

Did you know you can sew on crepe paper? When I was in first grade in 1953 (don't faint), I was in a production at school produced by one of the first grade teachers.  Students were chosen to be in the production which was about the months of the year.  Everyone had a costume and sang a song that represented their month.  I was one of 4 little girls who represented the month of February as Valentines.  We wore white pinafores made from crepe paper decorated with red hearts and a red crown of hearts.  Our mothers made our pinafores by sewing the crepe paper.  They were so adorable with ruffles and a full skirt tied at the waist.  This production is one of my most treasured memories from school and I loved the costume.  Loved it.

That story was to say that I had a couple rolls of crepe paper in pink and red.  I put them together, red on top of pink, and ran a gathering stitch down the center all the way to the end of the roll.  If you put your stitch length on the longest stitch (gathering stitch), the crepe paper will just ruffle as you stitch it.  I used clear nylon thread to sew it with.

Okay, so I now had a lot of ruffled crepe paper.  Now what?  I had a piece of poster board, so I cut out a big heart by folding the poster board in half and cutting a large heart shape with scissors.  The heart measured 19 x 16.  I got the glue gun and plugged it in.  I started at the bottom point of the heart and began running a bead of glue in sections and then pressed the center of the ruffle over the glue a section at a time, pink side down.  I kept this up all the way around the heart and then continued another row with the edges of the ruffles touching.  What next?  It looked flat.

As I finished a row, I decided to separate the red crepe paper from the pink, like you do when you are making tissue paper flowers.  I gently pulled the red crepe paper up on each side of the gathering stitch and let the pink lay flat.  Around and around I went until I got to the center.  How to finish?  Hmmmm. I rolled the crepe paper close together and glued it down to make the center look like a flower.

 After separating all the paper, it looked like the picture at the very top.   I loved the way it looked, but it was kind of bendable.  It would not be hanging flat against a wall.  Time for a remedy.

I had a 14 inch wreath from the Dollar Tree, so I wrapped some red crepe paper around it and attached it at the beginning and the end with hot glue.

After covering the entire wreath, I glued some remaining ruffle around the outside edge of the wreath.

Next, I laid the heart on the wreath, centering it so the heart would be stable.  I lifted sections of the heart and put hot glue on the wreath and then pressed the poster board onto the hot glue. It didn't take long to go around the entire wreath.  This gave the heart stability so it didn't bend or collapse on itself.

I had some red satin ribbon that I placed around the wreath and through a little opening I left between the poster board and the wreath and tied a bow for a hanger.  Then I marched it right over to my shutter and hung it up.  LOVE it.  Total cost, $3.00.  Yes, you read that right.  $3.00.  Each package of crepe paper with two rolls per package were $1.00 each at the Dollar Tree and the wreath was another $1.00.  How's that for a super bargain?

I finished the cabinet top with some pretty white doves my mom gave me for Christmas and some red deco mesh.  Next, I tossed in some silk flowers I had in my stash and made a couple of candle decorations from dollar candles from you know where.

This was one of several projects I worked on today.  Doesn't it look pretty?  Romantic?  Valentine-ish?  (Is that a word?  Guess it is now).  It also added some glam to this super gloomy day.

This was a fun project that didn't take a whole lot of time or money.  Perhaps this will give you some ideas for projects of your own.  We are now under one month until Valentine's Day.  Time to get busy!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

I claim there ain't
Another Saint
As great as Valentine.
~Ogden Nash