holiday project, the valentine edition

One of the things I want to have more time for this year is "fun stuff"... Sometimes the laundry, vacuuming, weeding, bed making, that thing called a "job", take up all of our minutes every day.

I enjoyed having my little holiday projects for Christmas and thought, "Hey, I can do that for other holidays too!".  So when I saw this gem on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago, well I knew exactly what my project could be for February... unfortunately, my "pin" didn't actually link to anything... so irritating but of course, I "pinned it" any who (yep, I meant any who) and this would be the inspiration picture...

Following my inspiration valentine I collected a stack of items to chose from... and since I was cleaning and organizing my sewing space, well the pile got a bit out of hand!  I'm proud to say this all came from my craft horde stash, so I didn't need to go out and purchase anything for this project, although some may not be so proud to admit that!

My next step was to whittle down my options.  Since the prototype was going to be for yours truly, well I went with pink, aqua and a bit of pale green... oh and I couldn't leave out a bit of lace doily and atlas page action, now could I?

Martha came to my rescue once again with her heart template.  I used a copier to enlarge and reduce the heart... I went up and down by 15% increments, wanting to be sure each layer was slightly different in size.

Cutting all the heart templates out took a bit of time...

I knew that the largest heart needed to be sturdy.  Fortunately I had this album from a thrift store, $.49 I believe, full of vintage heavy duty card stock, nicely aged, too.

Then I had to decide which paper to use for each size of heart... being sure to change up the colors and textures.

More cutting with trusty scissors... Then I tracked down an unused piece of pattern tissue for my ruffle.

Cut a strip of the pattern tissue and ruffled it a bit by folding it accordion style.  Checked out how it would look against my chosen paper...

And got to work.  I knew that it would drive me crazy to try to hold this in place and sew, so I used scotch tape to hold it in place.  Being sure to keep the tape well below the planned sewing line.

Then I lined up my pretty paper...

And stitched all around the perimeter catching both hearts, card stock and patterned, along with my tissue ruffle!  You'll notice I caught myself in time and added a ribbon for hanging BEFORE I started to sew.

The backside is a bit easier to see the stitching...

Next I carefully piled all my hearts up, got them just so, and stitched right up the middle.  Having never sewn on paper before I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the needle went through multiple layers of card stock, vellum, and scrap booking paper... and you can see I had a lot of hearts!

Pretty much how I pictured it... well except for the ribbon, should have placed it BEHIND the tissue ruffle.  Maybe for the next one?  I did thing to use some fancy scissors on some of the hearts... giving them a bit of a different look.

Next I was sure to fold each side up on each heart layer, giving it the full 3-dimensional effect.

See?  Looking good huh?

But now I realize, well I skipped the glitter step.  And you can never, ever, have too much glitter.

It got a bit tricky, but I was able to add glitter to a couple of the "plain" looking hearts.

But for my next ones, well the glitter will go on before I stack and sew because I had glue and glitter all over the place!
And speaking of next ones... well I have a couple to get off in the mail tomorrow to be sure they arrive at their destinations by Friday, Valentines Day...

AND I just HAPPEN to have one extry (as my husband would say)...

for a lucky reader...

so if you're interested in a glittery paper heart, made completely for free from my paper hording, just leave a comment.

I'll be drawing a name on Thursday (*revised to add - evening, 8:00 pm PST) with the intention of mailing it out on Friday... unfortunately I didn't plan ahead very well and you won't be actually getting it by Friday but it's the thought that counts, right?

GIVEAWAY IS OVER!
ADDED 2/14/14 and the winner is Camille #11!!



linking up to

Common Ground
Be Inspired

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Comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. It is the thought that counts- but anyway - one can use a lovely layered heart any day of the year. Happy ♥ day!

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  3. Chris,
    This is just lovely!!! Such a great idea for using some of your stash! Thanks for a chance to have one too!

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  4. Oh, they are so pretty and sweet! So creative you are!! I would love a chance to win one! Thanks for sharing how you made it, too! xo Heather

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  5. that is just darling! You are so creative and look how it paid off to be a crafty hoarder...haha. Thanks for the inspiration and the demo...heading off to the craft room to see what I can find!

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  6. Oh how sweet Chris! I love the layers and the ruffled edge is the perfect touch. And totally doable - yay!

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  7. Sooo pretty, Chris! What a great way to use up some supplies.
    Happy Valentine's Day!

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  8. I love your adorable heart! So fun with all the layers! I have that same heart pinned on Pinterest. I will have to try it next year. I just haven't found the time to make anything this year with my 11-month-old. Thanks for the lovely inspiration! I will now pin your heart! :) Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!
    Michelle

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  9. What a wonderful project! I would be honored to have one of your creations! Thanks for sharing ~

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  10. Such a pretty project. I remember making something like that in grade school but it was just construction paper and staples. I would love to win this...please enter my name in. xo

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  11. You are always an inspiration! I am now officially following you and I look forward to your next post!

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  12. Chris this is adorable! LOVE the look! Using pattern piece tissue is one of my favorite things to see - it's perfect with this. The possibilities are endless! Thank you so much for the great tutorial on how to make this creation. And thanks for the sparkle tip... I always get the cart before the horse with such details and it takes twice as long to do them.

    Blessings, Edie Marie

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