Valentine Wreath

My favorite crafty project is the one that is quick, useful, and uses up materials already in my stash.  Enter this wreath.  I stumbled upon it somewhere in the blogosphere and thought it would be a cute addition to our other Valentine decorations.  

I modified it a bit to make it smaller, and use materials on hand (see here for how to make the yarn wreath base).  Originally, I used the same charcoal gray yarn to make the argyle stripes, but it looked too chunky (see the wreath on the left in the top photo?).  I like the lighter pink stripes much better - looks more authentic argyle.

The hearts were cut from 2" squares, and the wreath is 9" in diameter.  They fit perfectly on either side of our dining room windows to perk up the space a bit with some Valentine spunk.

Wishing you some satisfying (and free) crafting! 

Jazzy Heart Clip Tutorial

Valentine's Day is just two days away.  Looking for a quick, cute, simple project to surprise your little one?  Try the Jazzy Heart Clip.  It will add just the right sparkle to your Valentine's Day!

You will need a glue gun (or fabric glue), one bendy clip, two felt heart pieces (mine are around 3" x 3"), and about a half yard of sequins.  These are from Joann's and come threaded - they are very pliable, which is perfect for this project.

Step 1: lay the clip on one heart and mark two small lines about a half inch in from the ends of the clip.  Snip these lines.  Put the clip aside for now.

Step 2: put the two felt hearts together and sew a simple seam around the entire edge - mine is about 1/4".

 

Step 3: start gluing the sequins down.  Use a THIN layer of glue and work in sections.  Follow the outside of the heart, curving the line of sequins as you go.  Overlap the sequins a bit.  When you get to the almost-end, you may need to go over some sequins a bit to even out (see how my bottom left photo just had a little space to fill in?  I went up to the right (see bottom right photo) to even out the last two lines.)  Cut the thread between sequins and glue down the end - try to tuck the thread under, into a dab of glue.

Step 4: open up the clip and slide through the two slits you cut.  That's it! 

Now, go make a bunch and surprise your little Valentine!  (Little E. likes the white one best - she says it looks like a cookie with frosting.  YUM!)

Have a sparkly Valentine's Day!

For the little Valentine in your life

Back in November, Mr. C and I took a trip to Woodstock, VT.  We saw these adorable ribbon headbands in more than a few shops.  I was shocked at the $15. price tag, though, and vowed to return home and make my own.
Here are the how-to's and results:

1. Materials: 7/8 " solid color ribbon

                    5/8" print ribbon

                    plain headbands - really any kind will work

2. Measure the length of the headband.  Add about 1 1/2"  to this meausurement and cut two lengths of the solid ribbon.

3. Cut one piece of the printed ribbon the same length as your solid pieces.

4.  Pin the length of printed ribbon onto one piece of the solid ribbon.  Edge stitch on each long side of the ribbon.  I used a 70/10 needle.  Note: I have done this without pinning, but it actually took longer as the ribbon gets very slippery and shifty.  Better take the minute to pin and then sew faster, with neater results.

5. With right sides together, sew one short end with an approx. 3/8" seam.  Turn and finger press.

6.  Fold each remaining short end, wrong side together, approx. 1/4" and pin.

7. Now fold the two lengths of ribbon wrong sides together, starting at the short seam.  Topstitch down each long side, close to edge.  When you get close to the end with the folded ends, repin if necessary to ensure that the folds match up.  Stitch to end, backstitching to secure folds.  (Leave the short side open.)  You should now have a casing with both long sides topstitched and one short seam sewn inside.

 8. Feed your headband through the ribbon casing.

9. Once the headband is all the way through, you should have enough overlap to sew a 3/8" seam to close the opening.  Be sure to backstitch.

 10. There you go!  One adorable, handmade headband for your little Valentine!

 11.  Enjoy how cute (and grown-up!) she looks!

12. And then, go make a bunch more because they are so fun, cute and easy!

  

Happy Valentine's Day!