A Vintage Crate   +  valentine's day

Valentine Craftiness

To my fabulous readers: If you haven't already noticed, I now have my own domain name, which is www.vintagesquirrel.com. Hopefully this will be a little easier to remember and type in than the longer: www.vintagesquirrel.blogspot.com. (You should still be able to access my blog at the .blogspot address, however, I am aware that there has been an issue with this over the past few days.) Thanks for hanging in there!

I have been working on a sweet Valentine craft for the Little Tokens of Love Swap hosted by the Prim & Whimsy Girls. According to the instructions, swappers were asked to:


...create any heart-shaped, handcrafted, Valentine's item - using any medium and any colors you like- as long as the finished piece is small enough to fit into a 5X5 inch box.
My inspiration for my little token was the Nester. If you don't already know who she is (Really, what is wrong with you?), you absolutely have to check out her gorgeous blog. Her tagline is: "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." ...Amen, sistah... Anyhow, the Nester (as she is called by everyone) is quite famous for her garlands made from scraps of ribbon and fabric.

And speaking of the Nester... Who, my friends, do you think I met this weekend at the fabulous Blissdom Conference? Yesiree...And she could not have been nicer. Here we are just hanging out...

I thought the scrap garland technique might translate nicely to a smaller project, and figured a heart may just be the perfect shape. I began by forming a piece of wire into a heart. As this swap required that all crafts fit into a 5in x 5in box, I had to work (somewhat) within these parameters.

Next, I simply started tying bits of ribbon, yarn, and fabric scraps around the wire, and knotting them. And I continued to do this again and again and again. (Definately not the kind of activity I'd suggest for someone with chronic pain in her arms and hands. Duh!)

...I know what you're thinking, "Why didn't you take photos at each step of the project?"... Good question! Next time I will do just that. Unfortunately, I only have pics of the completed project. I think it came out pretty sweet, though, if I do say so myself...

I hope my swap partner, Mindy, appreciates all the work that went into creating this (slightly larger than...shhh!) 5in x 5in scrappy heart.

And, for those who've been wondering about my foray into embellishments, did you notice the pink and brown top I was wearing at in the photo above? Ummm, yeah...I made those flowers! Stay tuned for a post on exactly how I created them...