Hearts, Hearts and More Fabric Hearts!

For Valentine's Day this year, as with every holiday really,

I started from scratch on my decorations.

I typically end up selling everything I make for myself after i use it for one year,

much to my daughter's dismay!

She wants me to keep everything I make :)

Moss and Metal Heart

Date and time: January 8th; approximately 5:45 pm. I was on my bi-weekly trip to the thrift store when I spotted a heart-shaped baking form in the kitchen section (which just happens to be one of my favorite areas for picking up items to repurpose). I already had Valentine's day on the brain from some other projects I was working on so, of course, I picked up the metal heart!

HeartPrints Keychain {for my love}

Buying gifts for a man can sometimes be way-difficult! Making them is sometimes even more of a challenge because, let's face it, I'm a girl and I like pretty things. It's sometimes difficult to not get too carried away with the cutesy and lean more toward the manly. But, I thought I'd give it another try after my

Christmas present

to Eric turned out so well!

I saw this really great pendant made from clay on Pinterest. It was so cool (here's the link to her post), but I knew I wouldn't have a chance to make it to the store for any clay. So, what's a girl to do...?

Get creative, of course! 

I pulled out what I had at home, namely a few washers at different sizes and a tin can lid. I figured I would put my fingerprints on the can lid and then cut a heart around them. What I wasn't sure of, was what to use for the medium to transpose my fingerprints on. 

I tried using fingernail polish painted on the metal, which worked (although it was a little messy for my fingers! lol) until I tried to cut the heart out, at which time it chipped off the tin. Hmmm.... what to try next?

Then I had a lightbulb moment. Chalk paint would work on the tin! So I painted one coat of Aubusson Blue on and then, over that, I used Old White and quickly made the fingerprints. It worked so well, showing off the blue where my prints were. Yay! So I put a coat of wax on the lid, then got the tin snips out and cut a heart around the 2 fingerprints. 

The next thing to do was get out my drill and add a hole in the large washer so I could make this thing into a keychain. To be honest, I wasn't really sure if the bits I had were supposed to be used on metal, but I figured I'd give it a try. And it did indeed work. Another success! :)

I next got out my trusty JB Weld, attaching the 2 washers and the heart together and clamped it for a few hours. Things seemed to be going smashingly! But something was missing. It just didn't seem finished. So I grabbed a bottled cap to see if that would work somehow. Perfect fit for the back of the washer! I painted it with Chalk Paint as well, this time in Coco, and waxed it with dark aging wax. But it still needed something more...

I had though once about using metal stamps on this piece. But, they are really kind of a pain! lol. Instead, I printed out some words on plain paper, cut them out and used Mod Podge to attach them to the bottlecap and again over them to seal it. 

I put a nut between the washer and the bottle cap and used the epoxy to weld those together too. Finally, I added some dark wire through the hole I had drilled and an old spring I had found when scrounging through my box of junk. I bent the wire back into the spring and used a little more JB Weld to hold it. Then I added a ring and it was done. 

I was really happy with the way it turned out. Junky and totally repurposed. A bit manly (but still pretty!). All with a personal, unique-to-me touch. The perfect Valentine for my guy. And he thought so too :)

We're sharing at these great parties...

Monday Funday at Creatively Living

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Creatively Tuesday at The Rustic Pig
Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House
Pretty Things Party at twelveOeight

Cowgirl Up! Party
Your Gonna Love It Linky Party at Kathe With an E
Transformed Tuesdays at PJH Designs
Take A Look Tuesday at Sugarbee Crafts
Be Inspired Linky Party at Elizabeth and Co
It's Party Time at Three Mango Seeds
From Dream to Reality at The DIY Dreamer
Wow Me Wednesday at Ginger Snap Crafts
Whimsy Wednesday at Smart School House
Tasteful Tuesday at Nap Time Creations
What We Accomplished Wednesday at Green Willow Pond
Show and Share with Southern Lovely
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Wednesday Whatsits at White Lights on Wednesday
Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife
Under $100 Linky Party at Beyond the Picket Fence
Live Laugh Linky at Live Laugh Rowe
Home and Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life
Made U Look Linky at Made In a Day
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage
Hookin Up with HOH at House of Hepworths

Jar of Hearts

I was home last Friday with a sick kid. And I'm talking really sick! He eventually had to take a rest, so I decided to work on a quick, little project while he slept. 

I grabbed a jar I had already painted with Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™, my box of ribbon and my mom's old tin of buttons, and set out to make something or another. 

I knew I wanted to do something with a heart on it, but wasn't sure what I wanted to make the heart out of. I looked around my supplies and found the perfect material: some thin scraps of corkboard. I cut the heart out of the cork, freehand, and then painted the edges with Primer Red ASCP™ to give it a little more definition. 

 I picked out a red gingham ribbon and glued it to the jar, then added some twine. Next I glued the cork heart over the ribbon, adding a cute pink button in the center. :)

When I went to take some pictures of my project, I realized I needed to put something in the jar for the photo shoot. Well, I didn't really have anything laying around. So, I quickly got out some skewers and broke them off to make them different lengths. Then I grabbed some red scrapbook paper with pink stripes and cut some hearts out of it, freehand again. I taped them to the skewers, inserted them into the jar with a little bit of paper for filler and then, suddenly, my little heart jar became a Jar of Hearts.(I just so happen to be a BIG Christina Perri fan, by the way!)

Sharing this craft at...

Anything Goes at Eye Heart Mondays

Making the World Cuter Monday

The Girl Creative

Valentine Picture Frame DIY

I picked up this folding picture frame at the local thrift store. It had a very light stain on it. It didn't look very interesting, that's for sure. But I have one like it at home, in a dark stain, and I use it. So I figured, why not...

I was just going to paint the frame and call it good. Give it a fresh color and move on. But I was monkeying around with a few layouts one day and I decided to see what something would look like. And thought I'd give it a try.

I first removed all the glass and painted the frame and waxed it. I then cut some leftover canvas material that I had laying around to fit the picture areas and painted them in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ (Primer Red). I really like the way the chalk paint looks on this particular canvas, which is actually banner material. When painted, the back has a great texture!

The trickiest part of the project was getting the layout to work with the Coco heart on 4 separate pieces. Measuring between each panel so I would be sure to get the heart to line up, I laid the design out and cut my stencil. I applied those and painted the hearts and lettering. I used Coco and Old White Chalk Paint™  and also some pink acrylic that I had on hand. 

The only thing left to do was assemble the pieces back into the frame. I kept the glass out of the 4 left sections but put them back in the last section. (I cut out some cute magazine pics and inserted those for the photos. Figured that was easier than cutting up pics of my own kids!)

And the project was done. Cute, if I do say so myself. I'm beginning to wonder why I didn't just use pics of my own kids in there. That could be my excuse for keeping this little treasure! :)

Love Was Made for You and Me

A Simple DIY Project from 2x4 Scraps

I just love using 2x4 pieces to make cute, easy decor. Maybe it's because we always seem to have scraps laying around. I mean, if you're going to reuse and repurpose as the basis for your business, why waste perfectly good wood scraps? :)

Before Christmas, we made the cutest little Pinterest-inspired snowmen out of 2x4 scraps. So, when I started working on some Valentine projects, I thought why not do something similar. 

This is what I came up with...

The hardest part of this project is getting the wood cut to the size you need. (I don't have a saw, so that's why this step is so difficult for me. lol) Thankfully, Eric can do this for me; unfortunately, he can't always do it as quickly as I'd like. Or, better put, I can't always get the cut pieces from him as soon as I'd like. Being in 2 different towns can often be a bit of a challenge. And I'm not really great with the patience thing sometimes. I mean, when I have a good idea in my head, especially one that I know is not going to take me long to put together, I just want to get it done so I can see the finished product! I'm not so good at waiting. :)

But, once the cut pieces were in my hot little hands, all I needed to do was first paint the base coat. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ for the white blocks but didn't have enough Primer Red for the bottom. So for that I just used plain old acrylic paint in red. I let it dry, which doesn't take long on a bare piece of wood. I purposefully didn't put a thick coat on because I wanted these to be a little rustic.  

Next I applied my stencil. There are many options for getting the lettering on, but I prefer this method because I can cut any stencil I need out of vinyl. I applied a coat of paint in the reverse colors of the blocks and let it dry. I then put a thin coat of dark stain over the red because I thought it would richen up the color I had used. Really glad I did that last step because I love how that turned out. :)

The only thing left was to glue to the letter pieces onto the bottom block. I used Elmer's Wood Glue and clamps and let it sit over night.

And there you have it! Another quick Valentine project that you can customize however you'd like. :)

I'm sharing this fun craft at... 

Love Is Sweet and All That Jazz!

Wow. It has been ages since I've been able to sit down and write! With the holidays and year-end tax stuff and some other things I've been doing, I've been slightly preoccupied! So today I thought I had better make some time to write a quick post. I'll tell you right now, I picked a bad day for it! Too many things going on today for this. But, sometimes you have to just charge forward and get it done or it will never, ever get done! :)

I've been listing a few items on our etsy store, so I have Valentine's decor on the brain! Today I'm just going to share with you a few new luuuve signs.

It's amazing what a thrift store frame, some canvas and some paint can do!

Or some burlap and a few simple words...

You can even add a few scrap pieces of plastic into the mix and some string... :)

Hope you like some of our new products. Have a happy Wednesday! Now, I'm back to more painting!