Category: valentine’s day

i loved the christmas bunting that i made so much that i decided we needed one for valentine’s day too. i think bunting banners are a fun way to decorate & they are pretty straightforward to make. i used pretty much the exact same steps as the christmas bunting.

{if you need any inspiration for a valentine’s day bunting, check out this cute one from pinterest. i love how the flags are printed pages, perhaps i will make a similar one next year.}

{pinterest link: valentine’s bunting.}

supplies:

• fabric for flag
• felt for hearts
• sewing machine or needle
• thread (i used red to sew the flags to the ribbon & pink to outline the flags)
• fabric scissors
• pinking shears (optional)
• cardstock (i used to make templates for heart & flag)
• ribbon
• tacky glue
• pins

{first i used my triangle template to trace out my flags. i used the template i created for my christmas bunting.}

{sidenote: a tip for saving fabric. because the template i created is half of a perfect rectangle, i found that you can alternate the triangles when tracing the template onto the fabric. this saves fabric & reduces cutting as the angled edges share a cut with the neighboring triangle. make sense?}

{i traced my heart template onto red felt using a black marker and then cut them out.}

{i glued one heart onto each flag. like i did for the christmas bunting i used pinking shears to cut the flag edges.}

{i used two spools of glittery red ribbon – one bunting had eight flags, the other had seven. i pinned each flag to the ribbon with two pins. i lined up the top edge of the flag with the top edge of the ribbon; this way wherever my seam was sewn it would hit the ribbon & the fabric. i found that it was easiest to lay out the ribbon on the edge of a long, flat workspace – in my case this was the edge of our office couch. this makes pinning the flags so much easier.}

{then i sewed a simple straight stitch to attach the flags to the back of the ribbon.}

{the finished bunting over our chalkboard. i am loving the festiveness of these heart buntings to our eating area & i think they may be cute enough to keep up for the next few months (until the next holiday i make a bunting for!).}

is a valentine bunting in your future? i hope so!

M

i heart valentine’s day, genuinely. who wouldn’t like a holiday that is all about love? i saw these little cards floating around pinterest & knew they had to be my valentines for this year!

{original pinterest link: sewn paper valentines}

supplies:

• heart template (see website above or make your own)
• pencil
• fabric
• cardstock for cards
• sewing machine
• thread (i used red & white)
• scissors and/or paper trimmer
• envelopes (see mine from earlier diy post)
• wasabi tape (optional – i used mine to seal the envelopes)

{first i printed out the heart template from the website above & made my own heart template from cardstock – much easier to trace than computer paper! then i traced the hearts onto my fabric – i recommend tracing on the back of the fabric so there are no pencil lines that show especially if you are using a light-colored fabric – and then cut out the hearts.}

{i cut out my cardstock, two pieces for each card. the dimensions of each card were 4 1/4 x 6 inches.}

{next i sewed three stitches onto the “cover” of each card; i sewed about a 5/8 inch seam – i lined up the right edge of the cardstock with the right edge of the foot. i used red thread for the top seam & white thread in my bobbin; this helped tremendously with the next step & also to keep the back of the card looking neat & clean. i made sure to leave the excess thread at both ends of my stitch long so that i could tie each off with a knot; i think knotting the thread works best for this project because doing a back stitch shows too much on the paper.}

{the fourth stitch on the card attaches the back cover. it is exactly the same stitch, you just add the back cover underneath.}

{after all of the cards were stitched together, i sewed a fabric heart onto each card by hand with red thread. {sidenote 1: i sewed all the backs of the cards on before i hand sewed the hearts mostly because i wanted to be done with the sewing machine. it would be a bit easier to sew on the heart either right after the first three stitches of the card, or even before you stitch the card at all. sidenote 2: i originally planned to use my sewing machine to sew on the fabric hearts, as per the original tutorial. after many attempts, however, i admitted defeat!}

{sidenote: i ended up without a picture of the card front. would one of my valentines mind sending me a picture of your valentines card so i can post it here? thanks!}

{i wrote my valentine’s day message inside the card & each card went into my diy envelopes! i used wasabi tape i bought from etsy to seal the envelopes.}

{i think the wasabi tape was a fun way to seal the envelopes. if you don’t have wasabi tape you could use regular scotch tape, use a sticker, or even glue the envelopes shut.}

did you send out valentines this year?

M

i have an obsession with paper goods. there, i said it! i still write thank you notes by hand & send them snail mail (isn’t there something so romantic & lovely about receiving mail!) and i jump on any chance to send paper mail. while i no longer get to go to school & receive valentines from all of my classmates (wasn’t that the best?) i did want to send out a few valentines to my close family & friends.

i knew i wanted valentines that had some form of diy & when i saw these whimsical envelopes on pinterest, i knew i would be making at least the envelopes this year.

{original pinterest link: paper envelopes}

supplies:

• envelope to use as template
• printed paper (i used square scrapbooks sheets, but size depends on the size of the envelope)
• ruler
• pencil
• gluestick
• paper tags or labels (optional – i knew addresses written on printed envelopes would be difficult to read)
• letter opener (optional – i used it to make clean cuts on my envelope template)

{i started out by finding an envelope & using a letter opener it up.}

{i laid down my template on the wrong-side of my paper (so any leftover pencil marks would be on the inside of the final envelope) & lined up the corner edges and sides of the template with the corner and sides of the paper (to reduce the amount of cutting). then i cut out the envelope.}

{while the places to fold in are really clear from looking at the cut-out, i found that it was pretty easy to end up folding a crooked fold. i remedied this by lining up a ruler edge on both sides of the fold edges and then folding over the ruler. this gave me a nice straight fold.}

{then i flipped the envelope over & folded in the pieces starting with the sides & then the bottom – this is the way the original envelope was folded. i added a very thin line of glue to the bottom edges of the side flaps. be sure that there isn’t too much excess glue on the bottom of this edge as you may inadvertently glue the envelope together!}

{i used these little cut-out tags that i picked up at michael’s. while the package says there are only 6 pieces, there are actually 12 – score! i firmly glued one tag on the front of each envelope, staggering the tag on each: bottom left corner, bottom right corner, middle. i always put my return address on the back flap of the envelope. i used our address stamp from etsy & the black ink was bold enough that i stamped it right onto the envelope, not needing to add a tag to the back.}

{the final touch was adding a LOVE stamp. you can see that i chose three different prints for my envelopes: stripey, polka dot & hearts.}

stay tuned for my valentines cards!

what do you think about pretty paper envelopes – a waste of time or can’t get enough?

M