Thursday, February 5, 2009

Let's make some scrappy Valentines!


Do you have lots of scraps of lace and trims? This project is a great project to use those scraps and make some pretty Valentines! I sewed my Valentines, but you can certainly make this project using your favorite adhesives if you prefer not to sew.




Gather your supplies:

Canvas sheet (I used Frederix canvas that can be found at Michaels, but you can also use cardstock if you prefer)

paint

Scraps of vintage laces and trims

Coordinating seam binding or ribbon


glue dots


Sewing machine (or your favorite adhesives if you prefer not to sew)


foam brush


paint brush


vintage china doll OR your favorite images (you can do a search for the china dolls on etsy if you don't have one in your stash, I saw several sellers with them)
Hot glue or othe strong adhesive (I use The Ultimate by Crafter's Pick)


Wings --I used some little padded wings, but you can also use Dresden wings or paper wings



Let's get started!




Begin by cutting a heart shape out of your canvas or card stock. Then brush a layer of paint onto the heart. And set aside to dry.







While your canvas is drying gather your favorite scraps of lace and trim. Cover your heart with glue dots that will help you keep your laces in place while you sew them on. Lay your trims over the heart in whatever manor pleases you.





Begin sewing your scraps to your heart. I stitched around and around the heart until my stitches had covered the whole thing. I did my best to go in a heart shape, but as you can see, that didn't always happen and since I was using a light colored thread that was ok.

Once your trims are completely sewed on, you'll want to trim off the excess. I think it is easiest to do this from the back so that you can just follow along with the shape of the canvas. Save those scraps for making more Valentines!



Next, since my vintage china doll reminded me of a cherub, I wanted to give it some wings. When I purchased my wings they were a brighter white and I coffee stained them to give them a vintage look. Now to add polka dots, just dip the end of your paint brush in your paint and dot onto your wings!



Of course, you can also use Dresden wings, or wings created from paper as an alternative.





Once your wings have been polka dotted to your liking you'll want to glue them to your china doll using either hot glue or another strong adhesive. I use The Ultimate glue by Crafter's Pick. This glue is always in my studio as it will bond just about anything and takes the place of hot glue for me! Besides my Coccoina glues, it's my very favorite glue. You then attach the whole thing to your heart. I chose to place it in the center, but you can put it anywhere you would like!Once my "cherub" is in place, I punched some holes in the top of the heart and strung the seam binding through. Tie a bow at the top and hang it somewhere it will make you happy. :)


You could embelllish this scrappy Valentine further by adding some vintage millinery, or words. Later today on my blog I will be showing how I used this same technique, and one of my favorite vintage images to make a Valentine pocket for my daughter. I hope you will have fun with this and use up some of those vintage scraps you're hoarding!

Cerri xo




26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great tutorial about making this sweet stuff for Valentines Day...

Lori said...

that is so pretty!!! i love it:)

Mia Sophia said...

Too Cute. I love how creative you are with scraps!

sherry said...

Beautiful. Love all the sewing

Kathleen said...

I love this idea...and will be making some of my own. In the future I would love to see a tutorial on making crepe rosettes. Thank you for terrific ideas. Kathleen

Jeanne said...

What a sweet Valentine Cerri! Great way to use up all your lace scraps.
xo
jeanne

Anonymous said...

Oh I love this! What a wonderful way to use up scraps.

Ellen said...

I have TONS of scraps...I am heading to my sewing machine now to make one of these! LOVE THIS!!!!!!

suesueb said...

love this-i'll try to make some for my sisters and mom for valentine's day or just to tell them i love them!!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea and thanks for sharing that tidbit about using Ultimate Glue. I'm certainly going to have to try it!

xashee's corner said...

Thank you so much for sharing this AWESOME tut! Hope you have a HEART-Y day! :D

Jessi Nagy said...

hey there girls!
this is so sweet.
oxoox,
jessi

Alisa Noble said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this project!!!

Anonymous said...

Love this Cerri! Great idea for using our scraps!

Alison Gibbs said...

Cerri what a wopnderful creation - so achievable by all of us.
Thanks
Alison

Tommie Jo said...

So, so cute! I'm gonna try it! Thanks for sharing~~~

Unknown said...

What a great idea! It's a great solution for all those "practice" pieces of canvasI have saved.

Anonymous said...

great and beautiful project cerri! I am inspired to go make one now!!
thanks!
xoxo, Tiffany

Anonymous said...

Your art is beautiful! I like the porcelain doll combined with the textile..Im a huge fan of these dolls. Thankyou for sharing:))
Sweet blessings, Sarah.

Elyse said...

hooray for scraps. another lovely project, cerri. xo

Elizabeth Parsons said...

this is great- thanks for sharing!
eBeth

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for giving the instructions for this beautiful heart! I made one today and want to make more. It turned out so nice. You can see what I did if you go to www.flickr.com/lllangel/photos. Thanks again, Linda

Unknown said...

HI! Thanks for stopping by my blog. my new camera is a Nikkon p80 ~ its a step between a regular one and a fancy DSR camera.
I love your tutorials....I am however allergic to the sewing machine...after that green dress in 8th grade.i break out in a rash! LOL!!

Karen 's World said...

Great tutorial. I posted a link from my blog today and would like to add a picture of the finished heart to the post. May I use a picture from your blog on my blog?

~*~Patty S said...

Fabulous heart tutorials, so happy to find you. Thank you SO much for sharing and inspiring! I found you at Patricia's Pretty Paper Hearts Challenge blog.

Donna Layton said...

This is absolutely--throw-me-down--gorgeous!