Heart Topiary

I finally got around to making this:

LOVE Blocks

So I have these blocks that my sister made for me that said HOME on them. They were a pretty orange color. Now, I love the color orange, it just doesn't go with anything in my home. So I decided to re-do them (hope you don't mind, sis). I was able to get the paper off and sanded the blocks. I painted them an oyster white and them used the cricut to cut the words out onto some heart paper. I haven't decided what to put on the back of them yet, that is for another day that is not today and probably not tomorrow either.

I still need to embellish the blocks and I have things picked out to do that, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Valentines Day Wreath

I have been trying to come up with an idea for a Valentines Day wreath and wanted it to be an original, I am the only one (for now) who has it. I came up with this wreath. The only thing that I had to buy were the purple sparkly balls and I found those at JoAnns in their Christmas clearance section for $3. I just winged it and did not have this in mind when I started, but I really like how it turned out. The finished picture does not do it justice. It was getting dark and it has been cloudy here. So here I go with my very first tutorial (sort of).

You will need:
 

A wreath form. I got this one at Dollar Tree a while ago. 

Fabric. This was a fat quarter that I found at Walmart, I think. Cut into about 4, 3 inch strips. You won't need all of it unless you have a bigger wreath form.

Hot glue, and lots of it. On a side note, when buying glue sticks, make sure that you get the right size. Apparently, there are not only large and small sizes, but also oval shaped glue sticks. I did not know this:( I just bought the first low temp glue that I saw. They are ovals and don't fit in the gun very well. I have to push them in. I am going to come up with some more projects that use a lot of glue so that I can get ride of this stuff and buy the right shape.

You will also need coordinating ribbon, scrapbook paper, distressing ink, and a cricut or silhouette or some other way to cut out your shapes. Add to the list some small stickers or die cuts.

I forgot to take step by step pictures, but I glued one strip of fabric down and then wound it around the form, continuing with the strips until the whole thing is covered. Then I just started randomly gluing the large balls on.

Here it is with the medium and small balls glued on. I decided to make a banner for the wreath that says All You Need Is Love. I used the cricut and cut out 2 sizes of hearts and then glued the smaller hearts onto the slightly larger ones. I had some small stickers that look like typewriter words and placed those on with tweezers so that I could get them on straight. I then "distressed" the hearts with brown stamp ink. I just took the ink pad and ran it along the edges of the hearts until I liked it. Then took the hearts and glued them onto strips of ribbon with hot glue. I secured the ribbon on the wreath with little pins. You can use hot glue, but I prematurely unplugged my gun and I was to impatient to wait for it to heat back up. I cut long pieces of pink, purple, and white ribbon and used those as the hanger for the wreath.

 Here is the completed version:
(I love it!!!)