My Paper Heart

I recently shared these awesome framed hearts from Sarah & Bendrix. Since there wasn't time for me to order one before Valentines Day, I decided to make one of my own to give to my hubby. I didn't go back and look at theirs, I just loosely had the image in my mind and made my own version of it.

If you want details on how I did it, keep reading.
I used a frame from IKEA and used some strips of corrugated cardboard under the mat to give it enough room for the dimension needed by the folded paper hearts. A simpler solution would be to just buy a shadow box frame, but apparently I can't do anything the easy way.

I gridded out my paper into equal size squares (and apparently I can't count, I should have had another row or two!) Then I cut out anything red from my magazines (strawberries, bike jerseys, shoes, swimsuits, etc.) and used spray glue to back them on another sheet of paper for more sturdiness. I used my mini heart punch to punch out the hearts, and scored each of them down the center. I folded them to give dimension. I put a dot of plain old Elmer's glue in the center of each of my grid squares and carefully placed each heart using needle-nose pliers and an Exacto knife. I felt like an entomologist (bug scientist). Let dry and erase grid lines. Then I wrote in my love note and put in in the frame. Total time commitment: about 2 hours. And he loved it.

(grid lines)

p.s. I have to say, this day is a lot more fun when I'm planning special things for someone else. Pin It

Valentine Goodies

I found this cute idea on Super Ziper, and thought I'd give it a try. My crazy husband likes milk chocolate better than dark chocolate, so that is what I used. Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with candy hearts on top.

The pretzels are not quite flat on the end so the candy hearts kept sliding off, so I actually sawed off the tips. Yes, I sawed off the tip of each and every pretzel with a serrated knife so they would be flat. Then dipped in melted chocolate, and stuck the candy heart on the end. Since I didn't have any styrofoam without raw meat on it, I improvised and used a loaf of rosemary bread that I was about to throw out (because it was getting old). I just stuck those dipped pretzels right in for drying. Hopefully they won't taste like rosemary. Hopefully my hubby will think they are as sweet as I do.

I made these a couple of days in advance, so the salt is starting to spot through the chocolate. So a little tip for you would be don't make them in advance if you want them to look perfect. Also, don't use a loaf of bread to stick them in. If you leave them there for a few hours, the ends start to get soggy. But they do crispen up again once removed. That's another lesson I learned.

You can find the jumbo candy heart sprinkles on Amazon or Etsy, or probably a number of other places too. Pin It

Valentine Inspiration

Check out all these cute Valentines items from Sarah & Bendrix. How fun would it be to share one of these with your sweetie this year?

I see a new DIY project in my future! My little heart punch is going to come in really handy. Pin It