Homemade Friday: Heart Garland

I've been wanting to decorate for holidays a bit better than I have been.  There's Christmas, of course, but most other holidays pass by without too much fanfare. 

I also haven't wanted to spend any money.

So since Valentine's Day is coming up I thought I would make my house über cutesy and adorable.  Because everyone needs some hearts, right?

Plus I was getting tired of the fall leaf garland that I've had up in my kitchen since fall.

See?
 

Time to go!

The garland worked so well with the leaves that I thought I'd give it another go with hearts.  And I was especially lucky because I had all the supplies on hand and didn't have to buy anything. 
 

My wallet thanks me.

I started by cutting my pieces of red felt into four pieces, making them about 3x5 each.  Then I found a heart picture, printed it out, and traced it over eight pieces of freezer paper. 

I cut the hearts out, then ironed them onto the pieces of felt with the shiny side down so it would stick.  And I think that no matter how many times I stencil this way I will never stop being delighted by the entire process.  It's easy!  And cheap!  And it puts a heart (or a bird!) on something that wasn't there before!

I failed to realize, however, that by using red felt and white paint the felt would essentially turn pink.  I was okay with that, but I really wanted white.  So I painted a couple of coats and ended up using the entire bottle of white craft paint.

Once the felt pieces were dry I peeled off the freezer paper and hot glued the pieces to garden twine that I'll have you know I braved the ice-covered backyard to go outside and get so I could finish this project today and have something to show you.

I'm a giver, is what I'm saying.

I didn't actually measure anything because I only have a limited amount of free time and I also have an enormous waiting list for knitting patterns.  So to save time I just eyeballed it.  I think it turned out okay.

 
However, I have gotten smart and didn't include Sebastian in this project.  If I had I would probably still be finding paint in my hair.  I did all of it during naptime because Adele is sleeping and Sebastian has discovered a love of playing on the PBS website and I have discovered a love of having a few minutes where someone isn't yelling "Hey Mommy!  Hey Mommy!  Hey Mommy!"