Hanging Paper Hearts

Hello!  Sorry to have missed posting yesterday, but it was another gray, gloomy day and we spent it helping our oldest daughter with our grandsons.  Needless to say, I didn't get any writing done, but that's okay because we had a lot of fun with the boys.  Any day with the grandsons is a good day!

Thought I would continue with some Valentine ideas that you might be interested in trying.  These paper hearts are hanging from out dining room light fixture.  They are so adorable.  Not only are they festive and colorful, but they help complete the Valentine theme going on in the little yellow cottage right now.

I used scrap book paper to make these and it was not Valentine paper, but Christmas paper.  Red, pink - it all works and it didn't cost me anything.  I just used stuff from my stash.  That's my favorite price for a project - nothing.  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.   Just took a little digging and some ingenuity.  

I don't have a Cricut or any fancy cutting machine, so my hearts are not perfectly even because they were cut with scissors.  Good old fashioned Fiskars and a little steady cutting.  Throw in a little glue, some 20 gauge silver wire, a few beads and voila, we have ourselves a Valentine mobile of sorts.

Feel free to use any kind of paper that you like.  There are so many beautiful scrap book papers available these days.  I just wanted to save a little money and a trip to the store by using what I had on hand.

To make each heart, I used two pieces of the same kind of paper, 2 pieces with dots, 2 pieces with stripes, and 2 pieces of solid pink.  Depending on the size heart you make, you can get many from a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper.  Here is what you do.

Lay two pieces of paper wrong sides together (that means with the design facing out).  Make yourself a heart to use as a template.  My heart is 4 inches x 4 inches and I simply cut it out of a scrap piece of felt.  Lay your template on the paper(s) and trace as many as you would like to make.  It takes two heart complete heart shapes (4 pieces) to make one actual hanging heart.

I pulled the bottom piece of paper up so that the wrong side shows in this picture to remind you to put wrong sides together.  The heart template is laying at an angle because I wanted the stripes to be diagonal.  I cut all my heart pieces out and began to glue them together by putting two heart shapes of the same pattern wrong sides together.  Using a glue stick, I traced the outside edge of the heart on the wrong size of the paper.   Then, I put a strip of glue down the middle of the heart.  Next, I pressed two hearts together.  Once I had two complete hearts, I folded them in half like this.

If you are confused, please forgive me.  I forgot to take a picture of the stripes and did polka dots instead.  Oops.  Then I ran a bead of hot glue down the folded edge of one heart and pressed the two hearts together.  You now have a heart with 4 sides.

Open the 4 sides up and use a darning needle to pierce a hole through the heart.  I used 20 gauge silver wire because I liked the way it looked.  You could use twine or ribbon or anything you like.  I threaded the wire through the hole and brought the end up and twisted it around the long piece of wire to make the heart hang level.  Next, I put a few beads on the long wire and then wrapped the long wire around the arm of the light fixture.  I made a curlicue in the middle just for interest.  Just simply wrap the wire around a pencil to make the curlicue.

When I was making the pink hearts, I decided they looked really plain next to the patterned hearts so I used the X and O stamps from an little alphabet set I have to make "hugs and kisses" all over the hearts.  Love the way they look.

Is there anything cuter or happier than polka dots?  Gotta love em.

This is out table set for Valentine's with some silver place mats I found at Old Tyme Pottery.  The napkins have pearl napkin rings around them and I simply put a red doily in the corner for some color and to tie in with the Valentine theme.  Have I told you I have a thing for paper doilies?  I do.  It goes back to childhood.  Don't ask me why, I just love them.

The candle holders and votive holders in the center of the table are mercury glass which is another love.

These adorable hanging hearts could be made any size and hung any place you would like.  They just happen to be perfect over our table.  You could made a real mobile if you were so inclined.

Well, the days are counting down and it will be Valentine's Day before you know it.  Time to get started if you haven't already.  This project would be fun to share with your children or grandchildren.  Perhaps you have a crafting circle or friends looking for an inexpensive project to share.   This would be a good one.  Have fun and let me see what you make!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Only do what your heart tells you.    Princess Diana

Have you ever had so many projects you wanted to complete that you can't seem to do them fast enough?  That is indicative of my impatience issue which leads to my procrastination problem which leads to hurrying and THAT leads to impatience and on it goes.  Hopefully, you don't have that problem.

This weekend I helped the daughter of a friend who recently moved to Nashville with some crafting projects that she will be giving for Christmas gifts.  We had a wonderful Saturday afternoon of listening to Christmas music and crafting.  Let me say, she is a natural -- picked right up on the new skills she is acquiring and created some really lovely Christmas gifts  Before we began, she told me she had no creative abilities.  WRONG!  Everyone has an inner artist and it is so much fun to see someone discover hidden talents.  

While I was helping her, I worked on a few projects myself.  Lots of decorating has been done this last week, but there are more things I want to finish and add before I consider the house "complete."  Of course, things are never done as far as I am concerned, you just finally say that's it!  

This is one of the projects that I worked on while helping Erin.  Aren't these candy cane striped snowflakes adorable?  Even your children or grandchildren could made these.  Our two oldest grandsons, who are 8 and 5, made these while they were visiting Thanksgiving week.  We had so much fun.  I found these on Centsational Girl's blog site and, of course, knew I had to make some.  She used paper straws, but I found these lovely red and white striped plastic straws at the Dollar Tree right before Thanksgiving and I knew they would be perfect for this project, and they will hold up better than paper.  I also found a package of little foam Christmas decorations at the Dollar Tree which had a bunch of little white snowflakes that I used for the center.  This is an inexpensive craft!

Here is what you need:

a package of red and white straws

white chenille stems (pipe cleaners)

small red beads

Decoration for the center - hopefully foam snowflakes 

First, cut 4 white chenille stems in half.  You will have 8 halves.  Cut off a piece of chenille stem that is about 1.5 inches and twist it tightly around the center of the 8 halves and then fan them out like a snowflake.  It will look like this.

Now, cut two plastic straws into 8 pieces about 2 inches long.  You want the straw pieces slightly shorter than the chenille stems.

Next, slide the cut pieces of straw over the chenille stems, leaving a small end exposed.  Cut 1 inch pieces of chenille stem and twist them tightly around the exposed end above the straw pieces.

At this point, you will have 3 pieces of chenille showing.  Take some small red beads and slip them over the pieces of chenille and trim the ends.  Place a snowflake in the center of the spoke and TADAH!  You are finished.   This candy cane snowflake is about 5.5 inches across.  Makes me smile!

Now, how cute is that?  Add a ribbon or string for hanging and you can use these on a tree as ornaments, tie them on packages for gift giving or do what I did.  I made this cute little banner to hang over my sink.  We do not have a window over the sink, so I try to keep it interesting.  I painted three wooden letters I have had since last year in a candy cane stripe and then highlighted it with gold leaf.  Sorry, the picture is not the best.

I have some red and white striped rope that I bought at Hobby Lobby, so I hot glued the letters to a length that would fit between the cabinets and tied two of the candy cane snowflakes, one on either side.  It looks like this.

Again, it's not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea.  The sign underneath the shelf says Candy Canes, 5 cents.  I have had that sign for years.  It just makes the kitchen a little more festive don't you think?  I placed some ornaments I gold leafed on the shelf and placed some candy canes in the coffee cup to complete my Christmas arrangement.  The red and white striped jar is used to hold sugar all year round.  Yep, came from the Dollar Tree.

I hope you will give this project a try.  It's lots of fun and would make a great inexpensive classroom project if you have a party coming up and need a craft for the students to make.

Check back tomorrow because I have another beautiful candy cane project for you.  It's one that I simply love.  Talk to you soon.

Everyday donna

Things to remember:

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. 
Harlan Miller