Handmade Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Just a few random pics of hearts mostly from years past.

Hope your day is filled with LOVE!

Karen

Mixed Media Hearts

Tin hearts, paper, modpodge, glue, bits of vintage hats, ink, vintage jewelry parts, ribbon, twine, lace,stamps, words, charms, cheese cloth, tea bags.

Tin hearts.
Have a lovely day!
Karen

Paper Hearts

For Valentine's Day

Love

karen

Primitive Hearts

As the snow continues to pile up around here, I find myself sorting through some of last summers flea market finds. Odds and ends that I picked up with the intention of using as craft supplies.

These primitive hearts were stitched together in a sort of wreath, but were coming apart.

 I added a few old buttons...

 and some string...

They are hanging in my kitchen until Valentine's Day and then they will go into the Jar of Hearts.

karen

Jar Of Hearts

Last year at this time I started a Jar Of Hearts.

They were tattered hearts adorned with bits of lace and blue silk from an antique dress.

This years tattered hearts were also made from bits and pieces.

An old sweater, torn doilies and scraps of this and that.

The jar is only half full, so there is lots more room for tattered hearts.

I'll be adding to the jar until Valentine's Day.

You can never have too many hearts.

karen

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope your day is filled with love and kindness.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Karen

Primitive Valentines

Hi.

I'm taking a short break from the jewelry making as I wait for some supplies to arrive.

I don't usually do much decorating for Valentine's Day, but as I rummaged through my craft supplies, I figured, what the heck, I have all of this STUFF,  I may as well do something with it. So, my next few posts will be devoted to handmade valentines.

This is my rusty heart tart tin hanging thingy.

It consists of three rusty heart tarts, a piece of driftwood, some jute twine, antique tattered lace, a couple of white stones, vintage dictionary text, and some Martha Stewart clear glue.

I drilled holes in the ends of the driftwood and the tops of the hearts.

Then I glued the lace and text to the hearts and hung them from the driftwood with the twine.

I like the way the rust was soaked up by the glue and is peeking through the lace and paper.

It gives it a real primitive look.

The stones add some interest to the overall look.

It's been a while since I've played with ink and stamps.

In the past I had used coffee or tea to give my tags an aged look, but this one was soaked in vanilla and smells wonderful.

You can't get more primitive than this.

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away, so I will be posting more ideas on making valentines using recycled odds and ends.

I hope I've inspired you to make some decorations of your own.

See you soon.

Karen





Tattered Hearts

Tattered Is My Heart

You've Torn It All Apart

So I Picked Up All The Pieces

Smoothed Out All The Creases

Stitched It Back Together

But It's Tattered Now Forever

Hearts are one of my favorite things to make.

They're simple and sweet and there are so many different ways to make them.

With Valentine's Day approaching, I have a good excuse for making and displaying them.

Last night I ventured down to my sewing room, gathered the most tattered bits of lace and fabric that I could find, and set out to make a few hearts.

I wanted this to be a relaxing project, so there were no patterns involved.

I cut the hearts into different sizes and imperfect shapes.

The bits of lace and trim were very old antique adornments that were easily torn into random pieces.

The more tattered they were, the more I liked them.

I was caught up in the joy of creating and thinking of how we've lost so much beauty in this world for the sake of convenience.

These pretty silver hooks once adorned the cuff of a beautiful lace gown.

In todays world hooks have been replaced by velcro.

Where has the romance gone?

Handmade lace and delicate silk have been replaced by manmade synthetics.

As I sat there stitching I realized that my love of everything old comes down to romance.

Not the huggy kissy kind of romance, but the comfort that I find in the softness of a worn quilt or the faded fabric of an antique dress.

Even this old chippy door from an antique armoire has that feeling of romance to me.

I'm sure there must have been a pretty dress with lots of ruffles behind that door years ago.

The mirror where someone once admired their relection is no longer there.

I've replaced it with some rusty chicken wire and it seems the perfect place for my tattered hearts.

May you find some romance in your world today.

Love

Karen

Bits & Pieces

Since I'm having crocheter's block and I felt the need to do something creative, I grabbed a handful of scraps from my sewing room and settled into my favorite chair to work on something different.

Valentine's Day is just a month away, so I thought, why not make some simple hearts.

I used bits of fabric and recycled wool felt to make these.

Love

Karen