A Red Burlap Heart Wreath for the Valentine Holiday

A pretty little red burlap wreath

hung on a white shutter was my inspiration.

Found  here

My wreath needed to be much larger 
to fit the wooden frame I intended to hang
on my wall.

So I used 2 wire clothes hangers as my 
wreath frame by cutting off the hooks and

bending each hanger into a half heart shape;

then twisting the two halves together
at the center top.

The bottom was left open

for weaving the burlap onto it.

I purchased 2 yards of burlap.

Then cut the entire length of the 2 yards of the fabric 

into strips each measuring 5 inches in width.

This was easy to do by measuring

5 inches from the edge of the fabric
(making sure the fabric is cut straight to begin with),

Then pull out a thread 
to be used as a cutting guide like this...

First pick up a thread with a skewer,  
knitting needle or awl.

Then pull it and ease it out.

See the line where the thread is missing 
in the photo below?

 I measured over another 5 inches and

pulled that thread for my next cutting line,
and so on.

After cutting the strips apart, I
pulled off 4 or 5 threads on both side of the strip
to give some interest, not just a hard edge.

Next, fold each strip in half lengthwise
(frayed edge to frayed edge) 
 to find the center thread
and pull that thread out as well.

This is where you will weave the strip onto the wire.
Just weave under and over as shown below
about every 1  -  1  1/4 inches.  
By following the thread line, the burlap
strip will be perfectly centered on the wire.

Pulling all those threads does make quite
a mess with lots of lint flying everywhere!

There was a dusting of red covering everything
including the floor.  
There was a layer of red on the bottom of my socks.
I felt like my beauty consultant daughter had done
a hair cut leaving it fall to the floor and I 
was walking in it.
So some dusting and sweeping was in order
(and a change of socks).  I found that
it was best to collect it all up with a dry dusting cloth.
When wiping with a wet paper towel, 
the red dye from the fabric left a 
stain on some painted surfaces
which was difficult to remove.

Then I just looped a length of
jute upholstery webbing around the
wreath to hang it from the frame.

I'm partying here:

Ivy & Elephants What's It Wednesday
Homework
 Share Your Cup Thursday
Thursday Favorite Things  Blog Hop
Fabulous Friday Party at Simple Nature Décor
Craft Frenzie Friday


Valentine Hugs,
BettyJean

My Hand-dipped Chocolate Truffles Ornaments Photo Tutorial

Mmmm, 

Hand-dipped chocolate truffles!!!!

It's always fun to guess what

the center filling will be....

vanilla buttercreme, chocolate buttercreme,

raspberry, caramel

but, these are nothing like that

they are fake!

just decorative ornaments,

and here's how I made them...

Begin with a styrofoam ball

and spread with drywall joint compound.

You really don't even need to coat  

the lower 1/3 if you intend to 

set your truffle in a candy cup as I did.

Let it dry a few hours

then lightly sand off any imperfections

(you may want to wear a dust mask).

Leave any swirls that

would lend give the appearance of the hand-dipped effect.

Wipe gently with a slight damp paper towel 

to remove loose dust.

Then for the fun creative part.

Paint with acrylic craft paints.

I used burnt umber for dark chocolate

and nutmeg for milk chocolate

Decorate each the top of each one

so as to reflect what the center

may hold.

I even sprinkled a little gold glitter on one.

Let dry and hot glue into a 

small pleated foil paper cupcake liner style cup.

Because I wanted to make my ornaments

to hang on a tree  (see that post here)

I bent a small piece of

wire and pushed it into the top of

the truffle with a dab of hot glue to hold it in place.

If you enjoyed this tutorial,

please leave a comment.

If you make any of these I'd love to see

them.  Just contact me,
I'd love to give you a Guest Post.

Warm Hugs,

Decorated Valentine's Day Tree

With the extreme cold and snow we've been having

this winter, I've pretty much just been hibernating and
trying to stay warm.

But I do continue to go to work at my office job each day

and as you may know I

decorate our office tree for each holiday.

So of course I wanted to share 

the Valentine Tree.

For this tree I wanted all things love and romantic 
that one envisions for Valentine's Day...

 that famous heart-shaped box of chocolates
hearts 
cupids
hugs, kisses
bouquets of roses

gifts of jewelry

all with a bit of a "vintage" because

I love the victorian style Valentine images that are available on line. 

 I found some free printables here and 
at the Graphics Fairy here.

I mounted them on poster board,

 added some glitter and sparkly tinsel style pipe cleaners
and a little red satin bow at the top. 

I cut cupids, Xs and Os (hugs & kisses) 
from glittered foam sheets

I had a few small candy boxes that I 

 would hang on the tree.

Then I made a few more non-functioning candy boxes 

(they don't actually open). 

To make these I cut two hearts from poster board

and glued them together with a 1 inch strip in between;

then decorated the tops with silk roses, ribbon

and Christmas tinsel.

As you scroll down you will see 

two more candy boxes...

this one hangs next to a candy bonbon ornament

(styrofoam ball wrapped in decorative

tissue and clear cellophane, twisted at the ends)

this one one hangs next to another handmade

fake candy truffle

See my tutorial on how to make

these truffle ornaments here.

I found these gold glittered gift boxes at a

dollar store and knew they'd be

perfect for this tree....

I imagined they were for gifting jewelry

so I found a template here  from minieco.co

for a 3D folded paper diamond and glued it onto

a ball mason type canning jar ring lid.

I tucked a few bouquets of roses (silk)

between the tree branches
wrapped with the same tissue paper
as the candy bonbons.

See more Valentine related posts

at the  Sew Darn Crafty  link party

or click the button to go there

Wishing you and your special 

Valentine a wonderful day!!!

A Valentine Garland

 

 

 

Welcome to my reception window!

 

 

 

 

Having stumbled upon a tutorial on

 how to make a mesh garland 

 HERE  at the end of the Christmas season,

 

I was inspired to make one for the upcoming

Valentine holiday.

 

 

Don't you LOVE this one from Prettify Your Life?

 

 

 

 

 

Without having any Deco Mesh products, I improvised and just kind of went my own direction.  I'm pleased with my first attempt but after reviewing the

tuturial again just now, I realize that I didn't follow the directions closely enough so I'm looking forward to my next garland being even more impressive.

 

 

 

 

I  used 5 yards of white netting,

a spool of each pink & magenta colored glittery tulle,

and a wire with red hearts....

 

 

 

 

 

 I hung a couple of flying pink glittery cupids

on the red wire with Christmas ornament hangers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I also added larger hearts I cut from metallic and glittery gift bags and taped to the wire.

 

Pretty fun!  

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

How have you decorated for Valentine's Day

at your work place?

I'm partying here:

Craft Junkie Too T.G.I.F. Party

 Fireflies & Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff Party

 

 

Warm Hugs,