Love is in the Air!

I took down our Christmas decorations (except the outside lights which the hubs has declared are staying up until St. Patrick's Day) and the house looks... bare.

Never fear, crafter Mandy is here!

I love Valentine's Day - I love the hearts, the flowers, the corny phrases, the explosion of red & pink, spending a special date with the hubs - everything! With nothing but some felt, thread, and scissors I created a heart garland that now adorns 3 windows and an entryway in our house.

I started by making a heart stencil - I used a recipe card, so my hearts are probably about 2 1/2 inches tall. I chose four colors of felt - red, cream, tan, and mustard. I mixed Valentine's colors with non-Valentine's colors to add interest. I cut twice as many red as I did the other colors so that my pattern was red, 2 of the other colors, then another red. The 2 middle colors alternated without pattern, so it was a nice mix of my artsy abstractness with my OCD tendencies. I find myself doing these kind of things often to satisfy both distinct parts of me. Whatever works. :) When I was done cutting hearts, I had 12 red, 6 cream, 6 tan, and 6 mustard.

I threaded a needle with a loooong piece of thread, doubling it over and knotting the end so it was more sturdy. I left about 8 inches in from the end and then strung the first heart with a simple stitch. After the stitch, I did a small stitch with a knot to lock the heart in place so they didn't all slide together on the thread.

I then left about a 5 inch gap and did this same thing with the next heart - stitch and then stitch with a knot. Repeat as many times as you would like.

The great thing about this is you can really do whatever you want - put the hearts closer together or further apart, as many colors as you'd like, patterns or no patterns, etc. You really can't mess it up.

Hang and enjoy!!!

<3 M