Heart Specimen Frame using Glitter Heart Beads

It is officially February! The month of lovveeee. February is a little extra special for hubby and I because not only do we get to celebrate Valentines Day together but we also have our wedding anniversary this month! Convincing hubby that yes we do have to celebrate EACH occasion and I will be expecting flowers on both days has been a little challenging.  Our anniversary is only 11 days after Valentines Day and Shawn has tried to play the card of..."What if I buy you really nice flowers and they last until our anniversary??" Sigh. I might never be able to convince him to keep the two occasions separate. I guess I'll just try to decorate with cute crafts for the whole month of February in honor of both days - all I can do on my part!!

Last month I ordered a bunch of different heart beads from Cousin Corp for my Valentines Day project for the Cousin Creative Circle.  I already shared my Heart Bead Bunting but I had some more pretty beads to use up and decided to make...

Heart Specimen Art with Glitter Heart Beads

This project was obviously very easy to make so this tutorial will be very short, but I couldn't help but sharing - I mean just look how cute it turned out!

Supplies:
To make your own version you will need white card stock, a square white frame, Heart Glitter Beads, and hot glue.

These adorable glitter beads completely inspired this project - they are so sparkly and full of color I just loved them. I think they almost look like little gumdrops!

Steps:
This is pretty straight forward.  Cut out a piece of cardstock the same size as your picture frame insert and then align the heart beads onto the paper equidistant apart.  You can use a ruler or just eyeball it like I did :) I laid all my hearts out first and then removed them one by one to hot glue them on.  My biggest tip? Work right to left (if you are right handed) otherwise when you drag your glue gun back to rest on the right side the little hot glue strings will move all the loose hearts around.  If they are already glued in place that won't matter!

All glued down:

Then just pop it into your frame and you are done!

I swear these beads look just like candy.  This picture makes me want to pluck them off one by one to pop into my mouth haha :)

I styled my frame with a couple of heart items on one of my floating shelves but there are a lot of ways you could use this.  I think this would look adorable as part of a gallery wall in a little girls bedroom! What little girl doesn't like hearts and glitter and pink??? Well. I guess there could be some. Surprisingly I went through a tom-boy phase where I hated all things pink GASP. What was I thinking??  If that is the case just make one to put up around Valentines Day!!

So does anyone else have an anniversary this month? Any problems trying to keep it separate from Valentines Day? Please share any tips if you have some :)

Easy Love Sketch Valentines Day Decor

This year I haven't really felt like decorating for Valentines Day.  I really liked my winter decorative shelves I put up for Christmas and since they are not super "Christmasy" I decided to keep them around for awhile.  However, I did make a few Valentines Day projects this year and this one is by far the simplest but I really like it! It is a more subtle project that I can keep up well past Valentines Day without being tacky.

One of the coolest things about this little frame is that it ALMOST looks like I just sketched it out with a blue ballpoint pen. ALMOST. But not at all because even though I am crafty I have 0% of drawing ability in my body.

But luckily I've got some crafting machines that will do the drawing for me! I got this cute little Love sketch from the Silhouette store and set it to use a sketch pen in the Silhouette studio.

I picked a light blue paper and bright blue sketch pen to match my family room decor and to give a more non-traditional feel to this Valentines Day art. 

Here it is all sketched out! This was my first time using the Silouette sketch pens and I was impressed! Pretty awesome how well they worked. 

 

I added my frame to a bookshelf in my family room:

It makes me smile when I walk by since it was so easy and cute :)

Now if only planning our actual plans for Valentines Day would be this easy.  Hubby is of the mindset that going out ON Valentines Day is a terrible idea since every restaurant will be super packed since Valentines Day is on Friday this year. I'd rather just suck it up and enjoy the cheesy holiday lovey doveyness and go out and enjoy ourselves :) We might compromise and go out on Saturday or Sunday instead.  At least if we stay in on Friday my house will be just a tiny bit festive!

Valentines Day Heart Bead Bunting

 

This month the project for the Cousin Creative Circle for Cousin Corp was to create a project with a Valentines Day theme! We had the option of making jewelry or a non-jewelry craft. I made two projects and both of them were not jewelry!! Seems funny to me...I post so many jewelry tutorials here on the blog and then I get a project FOR a jewelry supplies company and I do something that's not jewelry!!

Oh well, I still think this project turned out adorable and I hope it brings some diversity to the other projects. I decided to make a cute little bunting for Valentines Day that features some heart beads!

I love how girly and feminine it is - perfect for Valentines Day or to just decorate a baby shower or little girls room!

Supplies:

To make this project you will need a couple sheets of scrapbook paper, doilies, bakers twine, Heart Beads, string and hot glue. 

Steps:

We'll start by making the paper fans. Cut the scrapbook paper into four square pieces.   

Fold two of them up accordion style

Bend each in half in the middle and run a line of hot glue down the edge of one

Attach the other onto the hot glue

Use a matching color thread to tie a knot around the center to keep the center gathered

Depending on the size of your doilies, you might have to trim your fan down. Bend the fan onto itself and trim off any extra length 

This is how it should look after it's trimmed:

Hot glue each side together and you have yourself a cute little fan!

Next, use a couple strands of hot glue to attach the fan to the doilies.

(At this point I would like you all to pause and take a moment to admire my beautifully french manicured thumb. This is a very rare thing so me. May this photo ever document it)

Use a little more glue to attach a heart bead to the center of the fan

Repeat until you have enough fans to make a banner.  String bakers twine through the tops of the doilies to attach them into a bunting. 

And here's the finished product:

It looks pretty cute hanging up in my craft room above my magnetic bead board

It would also make a great back-drop for a cute little Valentines Day set-up!

Such a cute little decoration for super cheap: the doilies were from the dollar store, my paper was $3 at Target, the beads were $4 (and you will have a lot left over!) and I already had the bakers twine on hand. Simple, affordable, and adorable!

Instead of stringing each little doilie bundle onto a bunting you could attach it to a stripped straw to make a cupcake topper too!

But I like it best as a bunting, and the pretty pink and purple heart beads add the perfect touch to make this a great decoration for Valentines Day!

I'm linking up with these parties:

Monday: CraftOManiac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Made By You Mondays, Making the World Cuter

Tuesdays: Take-a-Look Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, Homework

Wednesdays: Your Whims Wednesday, Creative Share Wednesday, We did it Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Show & Share

Thursdays: Catch a Glimpse

Friday: Link Party Palooza, Frugal Friday,

Saturdays: Saturday Night Special, Show and Tell Saturdays, Positively Splendid

Sundays: Sunday Showcase, Think Pink Sundays

Valentines Day Decorated Shelf

I'm in loooooooooove with my decorated shelf for Valentines Day this year!

The best part about this shelf is it really only took me $10 to decorate! Here are the details on everything:

The red heart on the window I got from the Dollar Tree and hung it up with some clear beading cord.

The little heart vase and heart "flowers" were from the Dollar Tree.

The cute little Conversation Hearts were my own DIY

The LOVE Embroidery I stitched myself

And lastly I made the little heart bunting out of heart doilies from the Dollar Tree and Bakers Twine. This is my favorite touch on the whole shelf - it's just so dainty and so dang cute!!

SO MANY HEARTS!!!!!!!!!!

My only problem wasn't I didn't have enough Valentine's decor to fill up my other two floating shelves...so they're just kinda chilling out bare. OH WELL! Something to work on for next year. 

Happy February 1st! Bring on the LOVE!

I'll be linking up to these parties:

Monday: CraftOManiac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Market Yourself Monday, Motivate Me Monday. Craftastic Monday, Just Something I Whipped Up,, More the Merrier Monday, Made By You Mondays, Tutorials and TIps,  Making the World Cuter,  Make it Monday,

Tuesdays: Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Take-a-Look Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, Talent Tuesday, Get Your Craft On,Homework, Ta-da Tuesday

Wednesdays: Your Whims Wednesday, Creative Share Wednesday, We did it Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Show & Share,Lil Luna, The 36th Avenue 

Thursdays: A Crafty Soiree, Strut Your Stuff, 20 Below Thursdays, Hookin Up With House of Hepworths, Catch a Glimpse

Friday: Friday Favs on Naptime Crafters, Weekend Wrap-Up Party, Frugal Friday, Sassy Sites, Show and Share Day, Fantabulous Friday, Simply Creations Friday, Once Upon a Weekend, Weekend Bloggy Reading

Saturdays: Whatcha Got Weekend, Saturday Night Special, Show and Tell Saturdays, Scraptastic Saturday,  Positively Splendid

Sundays: Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Think Pink Sundays 

 

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Valentines Day LOVE Embroidery

Can you feel the LOVE in the air yet???

I can! Valentines Day is right around the corner and so is hubby and my 1 year anniversary. So I've really been looooving crafting it up!!

This hoop art was a fun project that is cheap to make and can be completed while sitting in front of the TV with your lover at night. Crafting and bonding time? Win win.

I started by tracing out the "LOVE" sign from Philadelphia by find an image on the web on my computer and tracing it. I realized after the fact I probably could have just done this on my silhouette...but it was easy enough to do by hand for any of you who don't have a silhouette!

I then traced this image onto some felt and cut it out. This felt I bought by-the-yard so it is a little more firm than the felt you buy by-the-sheet, which is good since you will be poking it a lot with a little needle!

Then all I did is embroidered it onto another piece of felt (this pink one I did buy by-the-square, and it held up alright. In the future I would use thicker felt.) I used a blanket stitch to attach the letters (Little Lovelies has a great tutorial for this!

I also painted my embroidery hoop pink with some craft paint before I started stitching cause, ya know, it's Valentines Day and you can't get enough pink :)

When you are done stitching pull the felt taunt and tighten the hoop, trim off the excess felt and then just hot glue the ends to the hoop in the back.Voila.

 

 Such a pretty little Valentines Day Hoop Art!!!

 

I love the look of the contrasting thread on the red letters. I debated doing it in red, but I think it has a more handmade touch now (well, douh...cause it is handmade... )

Here is it up on my faux mantel...sneek peek! I'll show you the whole shelf later this week!

I'll be linking up to these parties:

Monday: CraftOManiac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Market Yourself Monday, Motivate Me Monday. Craftastic Monday, Just Something I Whipped Up,, More the Merrier Monday, Made By You Mondays, Tutorials and TIps,  Making the World Cuter,  Make it Monday,

Tuesdays: Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Take-a-Look Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, Talent Tuesday, Get Your Craft On,Homework, Ta-da Tuesday

Wednesdays: Your Whims Wednesday, Creative Share Wednesday, We did it Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Show & Share,Lil Luna, The 36th Avenue 

Thursdays: A Crafty Soiree, Strut Your Stuff, 20 Below Thursdays, Hookin Up With House of Hepworths, Catch a Glimpse

Friday: Friday Favs on Naptime Crafters, Weekend Wrap-Up Party, Frugal Friday, Sassy Sites, Show and Share Day, Fantabulous Friday, Simply Creations Friday, Once Upon a Weekend, Weekend Bloggy Reading

Saturdays: Whatcha Got Weekend, Saturday Night Special, Show and Tell Saturdays, Scraptastic Saturday,  Positively Splendid

Sundays: Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Think Pink Sundays 

This post sponsored by:

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