DIY ~ Bakers Twine Heart Garland

I saw this darling earring tutorial the other day on Pitter & Glink & decided I wanted to make a little bigger version & make the little hearts into a garland.

What not another garland tutorial! Really why not? I'm stating here & now that garlands will never go out of style. Sure certain styles might get a little old but let's face it- garlands are adorable & they get the decorating done! So on that note here's ANOTHER garland tutorial....

What You'll Need & Step 1
flower wire
tacky glue
bakers twine I'm using all different colors {or a heavy-ish embroidery thread} 
pliers
{& I guess you'll need scissors if you don't like using your teeth}

1 ~ cut your wires the same length - mine are about 6 inches long

{I cut 6 but ended up making 7 hearts}

2 ~ squeeze a little glue onto a piece of paper 

{not too much because tacky glue dries pretty quickly}

3 ~ spread the glue onto your wire about half way down 

{you'll leave about a 1/2 inch of both of the ends glue & twine free for now}

4 ~ roll the twine around the wire re-gluing & re-twining until 

you hit the end- remember to leave a 1/2 inch free of glue & twine

this is me leaving a 1/2 inch free

5 ~ bend your wire in the middle to start forming your heart

6 ~ I measured with my finger where I wanted the tops to bend so I
could get all of the hearts to be about the same size

{yes I do this a lot- these old creasy fingers are good for something...}

7 ~  use pliers to manipulate the wires to be straight next to 

each other for the next part

8 ~ add more glue

9 ~ wrap the twine around the 2 ends to cover the wire 

& hook the pieces together

10 ~ squeeze some glue onto the outside of the heart

spread the glue around with your finger

11 ~ start wrapping the twine around in all different directions 

making sure to pull tightly while you're wrapping 

make sure the twine is touching glue where ever it wraps - 

add glue as needed

12 ~ pick a strong area on the twine & tie a knot around it - 

use pliers or something to help you pull the twine through 

the tight spots

make sure to pull the knot tight & then do it again to make 

it a double knot

13 ~ cut the extra twine off

14 ~ put a dab of glue on the knot to keep it super secure- 

now do this again 5- 6 more times!

take a look at your work & smile cause they are super cute! 

then frown cause you feel like you need one more to make it super duper cute 

{yep I said super duper}

15 ~ measure your garland twine- {I made mine about 1 1/2 yards long}

then measured 4 1/2 inches between each heart tying the garland twine 

onto the tops of the hearts tops 

{I was only going to tie the garland twine to one of the heart tops but ended up 

tying it to both tops- sorry not pictured}

* check out some of my other Valentines Day diy's here, here, here, here, here

DIY ~ Love on a Wire

Remember this & this? Well I wanted to do something along those lines but a little different for Valentines Day. I really did liked using flower wire better for this project - but if you are doing letters like they did here with your kids- I think pipe cleaner is the way to go. I also used Michael Millers heart fabric instead of yarn to spread the love just a little more. Yep super cheesy...

Supplies

cutting board

craft glue

paper

pliers {I used cheap jewelry ones I had on hand}

pencil

ruler

flower wire

fabric

rotary cutter or scissors {mine had the pinking blade 

on it from another project so I just left it on}

fyi-pinking sheers help with fraying

1 ~ write out what you want your project to say - I wrote I Love Us

{you can print out a font from your computer if you don't have as lovely of 

handwriting as I do- haha- or write it if you are lazy like me}

2 ~ I wanted my ends curly so I started with this 

{you won't see the ends- so this part isn't necessary}

3 ~ use the writing on your paper as a guide for your letters 

{yes I'm fully aware the "L" looks more like an "S"- I fixed this at the end}

I accidentally bent the end of the "e" so much that it broke so I

 ended up wrapping it around the "U"

which ended up as a happy accident - I ended up bringing 

the "Us" down to be below the "Love"

4 ~ cut your fabric into 1/2 inch strips 

{mine were about 18 inches long- but the length doesn't matter 

the glue will cover the parts you piece together}

I cut a little too many! I think I ended up using about 7 strips

5 ~ squeeze some glue onto your fabric about half way down the 

length of your strip

I just used my finger to spread it around

6 ~ start wrapping! here's were I needed to put more glue on 

{when you get to where the wire crosses another wire make sure you wrap the fabric 

around both wires to connect them together}

like this! 

{this is me connecting the "e" wires}

7 ~ trim any parts that look more like a mummy than a letter by cutting a little slit 

{I cut slits on both sides of the "L"}

8 ~ add a little glue 

9 ~ smooth the fabric out with your finger

 10 ~ the best part of the base of this being wire is being able to 

manipulate the way you want your words to look- so manipulate away! Hopefully 

the "L" looks more like an L now

ps. I'll be doing a Valentines tutorial all week long so stay tuned!
* check out some of my other Valentines Day diy's here, here, here, here, here

DIY ~ How to Sew a Heart on Your Sweater

You know how you sometimes buy that sweater because it's on super sale & it's hot pink & it's really cute & it's hot pink & it kind of looks vintage-y & it's got the perfect v-neck & it's hot pink!!! Then 2 years later you're looking through your closet & you see said sweater & it still has the tags on it. What!  Now the only problem is- besides the pretty color- it's seems kind of boring... So with Valentines around the corner why not put a ♥ on It!

    What you will need

     sweater

     scissors 

     paper

     pencil

     fusible interfacing

     scrap of fun fabric- preferably cotton weight

    {not pictured- seam ripper}

 1~ cut out your heart- I cheated & used a paper heart stamp cut out 

{if you are going to draw your heart, it's a good idea to fold your paper in half & draw half a 

heart then cut the half heart out & open the paper to get two even sides to your heart- although an uneven 

heart would also be pretty cute}

 2 ~ trace your heart onto your fun fabric. you won't see the marker so use 

black sharpie if you want- then cut it out

3 ~ set the heart on top of your fusible interfacing & cut out duplicate heart 

{make sure shiny side of fusible interfacing is touching wrong side of your fabric- use directions that 

come with your fusible interfacing if you need to}

4 ~ Iron together- using medium heat- this will keep your edges from fraying as 

well as keeping your heart from from wrinkling

5 ~ pin it to your sweater - one pin in the center will work

{go look in a mirror to see where you like it best- yes this is a different paper heart. 

I had my friend Amy take this picture while she was over for a play date}

6 ~ turn your sweater inside out & push on the heart so you can see the 

outline of your heart

7 ~ place your fused heart fabric side down using the outline of the heart on the 

other side as reference for where to put it

8 ~ use a pencil & draw little dots around the heart

9 ~ unpin the heart on the other side 

{pencil mark doesn't need to be too dark}

 10 ~ pin your heart on starting with a center pin- using the 

pencil marks as a guide 

11 ~ sew it on! 

{I sewed my seam close to the edge of the heart & sewed around the heart twice}

12 ~ turn your sweater right side out. take your seam ripper & carefully 

put a hole in your sweater 

{being careful not to go through your cotton heart}

can you see the yellow polka dots peeking through- now you have a hole 

ready for your scissors to start cutting away

13 ~ cut as close to the seam as possible going around the entire heart 

wha la-  cute eh? 

 here's a mirror pic so you can see the cute polka dots a little better- I flipped the pic so 

you all didn't get confused by the heart being on the wrong side- 

{no I don't think you are dumb- I just didn't want you to be confused}

* check out some of my other Valentines Day diy's here, here, here, here, here