This week’s roundup will give you plenty of holiday decor inspiration, with over 50 of the best garland, bunting, pennant, banner projects out there. I remember when I first started making this kind of decor, and how confused I was about what to call my final piece. Now I am not much more educated on the terminology, and I just use the words interchangeably! Whether you use garland or bunting or pennant or banner, you will find some great ideas here.
Valentine’s Day Kisses Bag Topper
Here is a great last minute Valentine’s Day gift you can put together in minutes, with a sandwich bag, some kisses, tape and a printer. Who doesn’t love chocolate kisses? There is a sweet poem too accompany the chocolate on this 2 sided bag topper. Here is the free printable, sized to fit a ziploc sandwich bag.
Just print it on 8.5×11 inch white cardstock or photo paper, fold in half and adhere to kiss filled baggie using double sided tape.
Dry Erase Love Note DIY With Printable
I have wanted to do this project since I first saw this framed “p.s. I love you” on Pinterest. It is uploaded by user, so I don’t know who made it. If it was you, let me know so I can send you some link love. Anyway… my guy and I are big note writers, and I thought making a dry erase love not would be a greener way to carry out our lovey dovey correspondence.
Here is the printable I used, which you are free to download…
I printed out the 8×10, stuck it in the frame, used a paper punch to make little hearts, glued them to twine, placed the garland and that was that. If you don’t want to use the printable above, you could just use an actual piece of notebook paper, doodle a cute message, and frame it.
Now we have a cute way to leave notes that doesn’t take up precious paper that I could otherwise roll into a lovely bead. Win win.
Coiled Magazine Page Heart Tutorial
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You saw this coming, right? Valentine’s Day is approaching, and a coiled newsprint heart tutorial is all but mandatory here at SBLC. This would be a great craft for Valentine’s Day decor or gifts. The technique is pretty much the same I have shown you in other coiled projects, with the addition of the best paste option I have found so far. I will share with you the step by step, including the glue recipe that is key in strengthening the strips and neatly coiling/shaping them.
Supplies:
- Magazines pages in colors you love
- Paper cutter or scissors
- Toothpicks
- Paper mache paste (recipe below)
- Wax paper
- Heart shaped cookie cutter
- Craft glue (I prefer Crafter’s Pick for these projects because it sticks to the wet strips, grabs fast and dries clear)
Instructions:
- Fold strips as shown in this magazine page coiling tutorial. I use a 1/4 magazine page for each strip. Some tutorials show 1/2 page or full page. I like 1/4 because I think the end projects look much nicer (less bends and crinkles in the strips).
- Make your paste as follows:
4 tbsp. flour
1 c. cold water
1 c. boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp. sugarMix flour + cold water then add boiling water and bring to boil. Add sugar, stir constantly until thick. Makes 2 cups.
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Let strips dry; I usually prepare a bunch of strips and make the piece the next day. I am sure a couple of hours would suffice.
- When you are ready to being shaping your strips, wet each one, one at a time as you are using it. The paper mache paste makes the strips stronger and wetting them makes them easier to shape, The paste becomes a little sticky again, helping the strip to stay where you place it.
- To get the heart shape outline; wrap strip around cookie cutter. If you are using a larger cutter, you may need more than one strip to go around. No problem. Just overlap the strips about 1/4 end to beginning and continue wrapping. When you come to the beginning of your first strip, overlap the current strip with it about 1/4 inch and trim off any remainder of the end strip. When that dries, slide heart shape off of cookie cutter. .
- To make the inside coils, I just start coiling (using strips i have re-wet) and use the outline as a guide to help me figure out what size and how many coils I need. Place the coils inside the outline, and using a toothpick, place a dab of glue at each contact point (where the coils touch one another and where the touch the outline). Let your piece dry completely and cover with a couple of coats of mod podge or sealant of choice for durability
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The possibilities are endless. I would love to see what you come up with, and am happy to answer questions!
Valetine’s Day Wreath From Coffee Stained Flowers
I had a gift certificate for Joann’s and wanted to make a Valentine’s Day wreath, so off I went to see what inspired me from the store. I found white flowers in the bridal section, and a heart shaped wreath form in floral. I also spotted this adorable vintage graphics heart decor piece that I had to snatch up for under $3. I got them all home, and decided the white was too white. I needed an aged look, so I put the flowers in a shallow pan and poured coffee over them. I let that sit for a few, then spread them out on wax paper to dry.
Once they were dry, I just stuck them to the wreath form with my hot glue gun. I arranged my new wreath and the decorative vintage image heart from Joann’s with a wide red ribbon, and that is that!
I love it! It is a nice change from the t-shirt wreath I had up before. I think cupid is smiling.
Valentine’s Sprinkles and Resin Jewelry
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Looking for a quick and easy gift for Valentine’s Day? This project fits the bill. Remember this post on patriotic resin jewelry? The process is the same, except I used Valentine’s Day sprinkles instead of red, white and blue. I also used heart shape bezels which I found with the polymer clay at Hobby Lobby. Follow along for the step by step, and you will be on your way to your very own LOVE jewelry.
Supplies:
- Magic Glos
- Pendant and earring bezels and desired jewelry findings
- A sunny day, or UV curing lamp; I use Lisa Pavelka’s and it works like a charm
- Toothpicks
- Tile small enough to fit into lamp to cure your pieces on
- Sprinkles
- small mixing cup
Instructions:
- Pour some sprinkles into the cup, along with a few drops of Magic Glos and using toothpick, mix resin and sprinkles so that sprinkles are coated.
- Use toothpick to pick up a clump of sprinkles/resin and spread into bezel. You don’t want the sprinkles to go higher than the lip of the bezel. When you are happy with the coverage, put a drop or two of Magic Glos in the middle and expose to UV to cure (either outside on a sunny day, or under a UV lamp.
- Once cured, add another layer of resin to get the dome effect and cure again. You can add embellishments, stickers or whatever you can think of at this point too. I used my label maker to make this love sticker. I put it on top of the cured layer, then put resin over it, then cured.
TIP: Use toothpick to “pull” resin from middle of piece out to the edges
I just love this UV resin. There is another, way less expensive brand called UltraDome, which is being shipped to me soon. I hope I love it as much as I love Magic Glos. I will keep you posted!