Sunday 15 January 2012

Thou Art Everyday My Valentine - A Valentine Gift Tutorial

I thought that this week we could make a rather lovely Valentine's gift that would not break the bank (it cost me less than £7 or just over $10!) but would show that you cared... so here is a simple but effective picture based on the perennial theme of St Valentine's Day.
You will need:
A decoupage box (you can get these in IKEA or Wilkinsons)
A sheet of background paper
Contrasting paper(s)
Heart shaped stamp
Glue gun or PVA glue or Double sided sticky foam
Ruler
Scalpel or pair of sharp paper scissors (Do not let me catch you using your fabric scissors for this as you will blunt them quicker than you can say Jack Robinson...)
A cable needle or metal knitting needle or something else pointy but not sharp
Craft mat
Take the back off your decoupage box and trace around it to form your background.  Cut out the square and glue it lightly to the background square.
Now decide on your design, I am going to try two, one in the shape of a heart and the other as a simple square pattern.  Use the cover sheet that is in your frame box to create a frame for you to work within.
Using your punch cut out your hearts and place them on the backing paper to see if it works.


Turn on your glue gun.  Take each heart, place the ruler down the centre of the heart and run the cable needle along the edge as we want the heart to fold up.  You may find it a good idea to put a small pencil dot on the backing paper so that you can see exactly where you will finally place your heart.  Now run a small amount of glue along the fold and press firmly in place, continue doing this until you build up your design.
As the hearts that I was using are quite petite, I whipped out my eyebrow tweezers to help place them at the appropriate point.
And for the harmonious square of hearts, use a small square of double sided sticky back foam to stick them to your backing paper.
Let your work dry and then place it back in the decoupage frame.
I also thought of doing a heart made from the pages of the map book we used to create the bows at Christmas which we found in the Charity shop... and I thought you could call it, "A map of my heart", or you could use pages from an old book and say "You read my heart like a book..."


My friend Sally made a beautiful picture for her daughter using butterflies for Christmas... I really think that this is a very versatile and flexible technique, in fact my mind is spinning and I can see that we could even use the folded hearts as petals in a bunch of flowers...


Finally, you can also paint the decoupage box frames to fit in with your room colour scheme.


Now go take a look at 1st Unique's Handmade Monday, can you believe that Wendy has been doing this for almost a year?  This is week 49, where has the time gone?
Now, I going to give you a quick preview of next week's tutorial... it is a pattern for a hat and matching scarf, as you can see I have almost finished the scarf but I need to crack on with it, so I thought if I told you that I was posting it, I would have to finish it!


BTW... there might be mittens a little later, once I have worked out the pattern... it may be some little time...

29 comments:

Claire Cooper said...

What a lovely Idea

Amanda said...

Very cool! I can tell the possibilities with this technique are endless. Must...resist...new...craft...

Adaliza said...

Looks like great fun! What a super gift for the one you love.

Christmas Pie Crafts said...

They are lovely Ros and a nice idea. Love the colour purple and its various shades. Have a good week.

Stocki said...

That's a lovely simple idea...so effective. Now I can't wait for the tutorial that hat and scarf are stunning! :)x

Carolee Crafts said...

Love the idea of a map of my heart, the frames are so effective

Wendy said...

Gorgeous - simple and extremely effective. Would be lovely with maps!

Anonymous said...

Another great tutorial I must try! Thanks for sharing :-) I'm hoping to try your tea Cosy tutorial this week :-) x

butterflyblossom said...

This is a brilliant idea and I'll bet you can pick up some gorgeous and cheap frames from boot fairs and flea markets too! X

lovetartan said...

love the tutorial Ros (now if only I had someone to give one of these to!) - the hat and scarf look great. Really nice pattern. Mich :)

Annie and Lyn said...

That's a lovely idea that could be adapted for many occasions.

Funny thing - yesterday my husband was clearing out his cupboard and came across an old pocket atlas. He asked if I thought it worth keeping and I said that I'd seen a project using old maps, but try as I might I couldn't bring it to mind. So thank you for mentioning it in this post!

Anonymous said...

I love these - a word to the wise - don't use your heart cutter for cutting felt, I tried to cut strawberry calix out with my petal cutter - disaster!!! Have a lovely week

ZukieStyle said...

Very effective! and will make a lovely present.

I love the piccie on your banner by the way, looks very tranquil :)

Susie said...

Such a neat idea, and think of all the different papers you could use! I collect paper and have boxes and boxes (who doesn't?). As always..you rock!

Kimberleymjw said...

Oh they're so pretty!

Kim xx

Caroline Lovis (Redneedle) said...

Congrats and good luck with the job Ros!!!! I love this make it's right up my street and the idea of using pages from an old book is inspired. Always difficult to know what to get the OH x

Jam Dalory said...

These look great and like something I could do without sewing my hand to a piece of fabric! Love your tutorials. x

Kat Shenton said...

Love the heart idea. Simple and really effective! As always, who needs to look for inspiration when we have our very own crafty muse!

Jan said...

Ros, these are very pretty, a great gift for any occasion.

Jan x

Ali said...

Really beautiful work - I might have to have a go at some of these - I have got quite a few punches which I could play with from my cardmaking days...

Great tutorial as always.

Ali x

Pickle Lily said...

Yet another fab tutorial - thank-you. Love the hat and scarf set, so will wait eagerly for those!
Jo x

Little Harriet said...

I've seen a few frames like that in charity shops, now I have an idea how to use them! Can just imagine using a sea creatures theme in a bathroom... oo you have me thinking now!

LH
x

Helen said...

That is a lovely idea for a gift :)
And I'm looking forward to seeing the pattern next week. I love my knitting patterns :)

Allison said...

What a cute project!

The mum of all trades said...

Thank you so much for linking this to my blog party, I really appreciate it! Hope to see you again soon x

Rose Clearfield said...

This is such a sweet idea and so simple! Thanks for sharing.

Judy Westcott said...

Great tutorial!

Hank Hendricks said...

This is simple but still an effective way of showing love on valentine's day. Perfect for some one who is a big fan of photo frames.

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Unknown said...

Do you have some more thoughts about gifts for other occasions?