OhSewCrafty Blog

Last year I got a bunch of Valentine crafty stuff, but never put it together.  So this year, I thought I’d get on it.  I suppose you could say my “nesting” was expressed in crafting productivity! 

First up, I made this “kissing ball”- using a 3″ diameter floral foam sphere, and a bunch of silk flowers, hacked apart into individual blooms. I bored holes ~1″ deep into the styrofoam using a mini screwdriver (tool for sewing machine).  Applied a bit of hot glue around each hole then sunk individual flower into it, pressing briefly to adhere at the base.  Repeat all around- applying closely together.  At the top, I creatd a hanger with ribbon, secured with a ballpoint pin and more hot glue.  This hangs in the door between hall and kitchen, where we hang the mistletoe during the holidays.  

XOXO blocks- standing wood blocks.  I did a base coat in Craftsmart white on most of the exposed edges (front, sides, inner) than three topcoats of Martha Stewart “Sugar Cube” glitter paint on the front only.  I thought this was silver, but it actually turned out very pale pink.  Works for Valentine’s Day regardless!

 Floral arrangement in a silver bucket.  I have a base layer of red and pink roses, and red glitter hearts over all.  Some pink glitter heart ornaments dangle from brances with silver berries.  A white butterfly and feathers add a bit of whimsy and tie it all together.

Sequin Heart for the mantle.  100layercake.com provided the excellent tutorial, though I made a few changes.  Instead of using the template, I found a thin wood heart at Michaels, about 8″ tall, and used that as a base of my paper mache (to make the heart dimensional).  Paper mache is so fun!  Kind of like sculpting and finger painting combined.  I used 3 types of sequins and mine is red, obviously.  

Valentine votive.  Charlottesfancy.com provided the tutorial.  I made it twice before I was satisfied.  Tissue paper is super delicate, it doesn’t take much to cause it to tear, especially when wet from the Mod Podge.  Less is more when it comes to the Mod Podge.  You kind of have to experiment to find the happy medium between enough to make it stick and too much which will cause it to tear and disintegrate.  It looks better with the lit candle inside.  Candlelight is very forgiving.  

I Love You garland for mirror.  Oh Crafts provided the idea.  I used glitter foam to simplify things a bit.

Shopped- I picked up the darling cupid figurine on Ebay.  He is by Maruri Porcelein, hand painted, and stands 7.5″ tall.  I love his jaunty pose and saucy attitude.  The huge key is by Hobby Lobby, picked up for a song in their half off metal decor sale.  I love this!  Key to my heart?  Key to the castle?  I may leave this out most of the year.

The overall effect for the living room mantle- so festive, I love it!  

Moving onto the dining room- I created a “Be Mine” bunting using this great tutorial by jessicapeck.blogspot.com.  I blew up her templates about 150%, because I wanted my bunting a bit bigger- the space to fill is around 9′ wide.  Also, mine had to be reversible since it’s visible from both sides.  I used the sewing machine instead of hand sewing.  When I first hung it up, the pillows twisted around so the message was nonsensible.  I shortened the hangers and stabilized them, doubling the loop over and securing to the pillow and the line using hot glue.  I couldn’t make sense of her pompon directions, so I used WikiHow.  My pom poms aren’t perfect circles, but I think they lend charm anyhow.

I worked on a few other projects (plates with romantic quotes from Jane Austen, plus a fabric rose wreath for front door) but those were not finished before Sir Cuteness made his debut on February 10, 2014!  Oh well, I have a head start for next year 🙂