Felt Heart Accents Tutorial

This is an easy 'from the couch' craft. You can add them as accents on paper Valentine's, in a scrapbook, glue them onto a ribbon-lined alligator clip, or use them as a bow center.

You will need: felt in the color of your choice, needle and hand embroidery thread

1. Cut two hearts from the felt, between 1 and 4 inches across. You could use a stencil or cut a half heart into felt folded in half, elementary school style. I used the old-school method. They need to be fairly close in size and shape, but no need to freak if they're not perfect.

2. Tie a knot at one end of a 2 ft length of embroidery thread.

3. Stack the two hearts, lining them up the best you can.

4. Hand sew about 1/8 in. in to the heart, going around the outside using medium sized stitches. If you stitch too small, the felt will tear rather than the stitching holding the two hearts together. Same goes for if you get too close to the edge.

5. When you've gone all the way around the edge of your heart, make sure the remaining thread is pulled through on the same side of the hearts as your initial knot. Knot the thread so your stitches don't come undone. Cut the excess thread.

Now, use your handmade embellishment however you see fit!

Double Ruffle Ribbon Puffs

I LOVE dressing my girls up for the holidays. These cute little hair accessories are perfect for every holiday. Just change the ribbon colors and you've got a 4th of July or Christmas hair clip!

You will need: 12 in. of 5/8 in. double ruffle ribbon in three colors (36 in. total), needle and thread, scissors, lighter for sealing ribbon ends

1. Cut each color of ribbon into four 3 in. pieces. Seal the ends. You can cut the ends into two points by folding the end in half long ways and cutting a triangle from the folded side about half in. down to the outside edges at the top, then sealing by running the flame along the angle quickly. I call that 'forking' the ends.

2. Take one of your ribbon length's and pinch it half in the middle. Run the needle and thread through the middle (after you make certain you have a nice secure knot at the end of the thread, which should be about 12 in. long, by the way). There is no need to find the exact middle, just eyeball it.

3. Repeat step two with the remaining 11 pieces, alternating colors.

4. Now you're going to fan out  the ribbons so that they're going all different directions. For the most part, this will happen naturally, but it's good to fan them to make sure there are no bald spots in your pom pom.

5. Pull the ribbons tight to the knot. Run the needle and thread back and forth through the center of the stack of pell mell ribbons, pulling tight. When the ribbons feel securely together, knot the thread and cut of the excess.

The result should be a super cute pom pom shaped ribbon puff. It's simple and girly and can be used on an alligator clip, hair elastic, or headband. Customize the colors to match any outfit or double them up for adorable pigtails!

The picture with the pink, hot pink, and brown double ruffle puff and the Valentine's Day one showcases the difference between 'forking' the ribbon ends and leaving them straight.

You can also use this technique with 1 1/2 in. double ruffle ribbon. Simply cut your ribbon pieces 5 in. long instead and make the project the same way. You get a puff that is approximately 4 in. wide.

A word of caution: cheap double ruffle that is 'plasticky' down the middle does NOT work well in this project. You'll want to make sure you're using a soft, supple double ruffle ribbon or the ribbon lays flat instead of fluffing. I don't suggest ordering mass quantities of double ruffle ribbon online for this project unless you've ordered it from that company before and know you'll be getting a high quality product.

Heart Ribbon Sculpture Tutorial

This project is VERY easy and very versatile! You can add layers to your heart, or simplify and use only one layer. Experiment to get the look you want.

You will need: 15 in. of 3/8 in. grosgrain ribbon, hot glue gun and glue sticks, something to seal ribbon ends (I use a lighter), scissors

1. Cut two pieces of ribbon 4 1/2 in. long and seal the ends. If you're using a lighter, simply run the ends through the flame quickly to avoid fraying. Cut two 3 in. pieces and seal those ends as well.

2. Take one of your 3 in. pieces and place the ends together. Place a line of glue on one of the ends and pinch together. Repeat with the other short piece.  You should have two little tear drop shapes now.

3. Wrap one of the long pieces over one of the tear drops, lining up the ends of both pieces. Glue the long pieces ends on either side of the tear drop's point. Repeat with the other long piece and tear drop. You'll now have two double layered tear drops.

4.  Place the pointy ends of each tear drop together and line them up straight. Line glue about 2/3 of  up the outside layer of one tear drop, between the two tear drops. Pinch together.

And now you have a heart shape! You can now glue it to a ribbon lined alligator clip to go in the hair, or onto a fab headband, on a pin for your jacket, or even blow up the measurements and use 7/8 in ribbon and place on a piece of card stock that can go in a shadow box frame for home decor at Valentine's Day or in a little girl's room year round!

Window To The Heart Pillow Tutorial

You will need: 5 2 1/2 in x 11 in pieces of printed cotton fabric (I'm using a tan and country red check), 2 13in x 13 in pieces of light neutral muslin, poly fill, basic sewing implements

1. Place two of the printed cotton strips together, right sides together. Adjust the thread tension on your sewing machine all the way up. Set your stitch to the longest stitch length. Sew down one long side of the two strips, moving fairly slowly. The fabric should gather into a cute little ruffle. (Have you noticed yet that I avoid pinning like it's the bubonic plague? Anytime precise measurements are not absolutely a necessity and I'm not sewing a huge length, I find it unnecessary. I also avoid precise measurements at almost any cost.)

2. Repeat with another two strips. Sew the ruffled double strips together using the same method (right sides together, 'ruffle' setting still on, sewing down the length of the fabric). Now sew the remaining strip in the same fashion. You should now have a ruffly rectangle of your printed fabric. You may notice that I messed up and put half the seams on the outside. It wasn't my intention, but I decided it suited the primitive look I was going for. Your call, though!

3.Place your ruffly rectangle face down on one of your 13x13 muslin squares. Center it. Sew around the edges of the ruffly rectangle, using the edge of your presser foot to judge your seam allowance. You may want to zig zag around the outermost edge of the rectangle as well. I like to use a good zig zag to finish any edge.

4. Now for the heart. Either make a heart stencil that will fit in your ruffly rectangle with at least 1/4 in of leeway then center it on the muslin and trace it , or free hand it directly onto the muslin. Verrrry slooowly stitch along that heart outline.

5. Pull the muslin away from the ruffles and make a little snip in the middle. Stick your scissors in there and snip around the inside of the heart, being careful not to catch the ruffles or the heart's stitching. You've now finished the front!

6. Place your front face down on the other muslin square. Pin around the edges. Sew down three sides using that presser foot seam allowance, then zig zag those three sides as well. Sew the last side only 2/3 of the way down.

7. Flip your pillow right side out. Poke the corners all the way out. There are fancy tools for that, but I just use a dowel rod or any other long skinny object that's handy. Stuff your pillow.

8. Fold the edges of the hole in neatly until the edge is level. Pin. Use a straight stitch to close up the hole, or you could hand stitch it if you like (I don't like).

Voila!! A cute Valentine's day throw pillow. You could use this method to do other themes as well. A pumpkin for fall or a Christmas tree, perhaps. I have also envisioned an Easter egg, stripes built right in. You could also adjust the measurements and make any size pillow you like, or maybe use the idea for the front to make a wall hanging or...the possibilities aren't endless, but there are a lot of them.