all hearts

Here's a fun Valentine project. I'll share with you how I made it.

You'll need 7 or more wooden hearts. You can experiment with different heart shapes. I used 6 wider hearts and one tear-drop heart. You'll also need to buy a small wooden wreath form, available in the floral supplies section of the craft store. Other things to gather include gesso, your favorite crafting glue, a paintbrush, assorted pages from vintage books, sheetmusic, etc., silver glass glitter, and a vintage hearts playing card (try to find one of a value of 7, 8, 9, or 10 so you'll have a lot of hearts to work with.)

I began by painting a coat of gesso on both sides of each heart and the wreath form. You may find that you can skip this step. I like the way the glue adheres to the primed surface and that the back of the wreath is finished too.

Using a staple gun, secure a loop of velvet ribbon to the back for the hanger.

Next, gather up assorted pages from books, including at least one illustration. Use original papers instead of copies. Select pages from different pages to give the piece depth as each paper will have a slightly different patina. Look too for blank endpapers. Trace the heart on the paper and then cut out. Paint a layer of glue on the heart and adhere the paper heart to the wooden one. Do this with each heart.

After you paper the heart, paint the edge with glue and swipe it through a little pile of silver glass glitter to make a border of silver glitter all the way around the heart. It's okay if it's not perfect...that adds to the charm!

Work with the hearts on the wreath form to figure out the placement of the hearts. Overlap, rotate, mix them up.

After you decide the placement, cut the hearts out of the playing card and artfully place them on the hearts. If you don't have a vintage playing card, just use a heart-shape hole punch to make heart shapes out of red paper.

Search through your page scraps or through the books they came from for an appropriate word or phrase. It's like magic, I swear. You'll find exactly the word or phrase you need. I found the word "Together". Instead of cutting it out, use the edge of your counter or table to tear a straight edge. The age of the paper will cause the paper to tear unevenly.

Secure the hearts to the wreath base. Glue first the hearts that are flat against the base. Then glue the overlapping hearts to the first layer.

Voila! A sweet little Valentine wreath that makes a great gift. Experiment with different sorts of papers, including vintage Valentines.