Heart Attack

Valentines Day.  It's coming!  And while it's not my favorite holiday, not even close, really, I still like the splash of color it can bring into the middle of winter.  So I play along.

 I had been wanting to make these hearts for a good while now, and I finally got to them last week.  Now I'm wishing I had made them sooner, because they are so very cheerful!

I unintentionally hung them over a heat vent.  And I am so glad I did, because every time the heater turns on, the hearts (and me!), do a little jig.   I would highly recommend it.  Instant happiness boost.

I got the idea from Martha Stewart (have you heard of her?).  She has a tutorial on her site, but I thought it was a bit short and void of photos, so I ended up taking a few of the process.

You begin by peeling some crayons and then running them through a pencil sharpener to get a good pile of shavings.

Then you fold a piece of wax paper in half and sprinkle the shavings on one half.  Get out your ironing board + iron and some newsprint or kraft paper (this helps with the mess that waxy crayons + wax paper make when melted)  Make a sandwich of newsprint, folded wax paper, and then more newsprint.  Now you must iron.  It only takes a few seconds, and you can just check on how it's melting by lifting up the newsprint.

Ta-da!

Once cooled, draw some hearts onto the wax paper and cut them out.

You can either hang them up with tape or hung from a string (I like dancing hearts--so I went with the string).  To do so, just thread a needle with some string or embroidery floss and 'sew' through the top of the heart, securing with a little knot.

You are now done.  Pretty!

Last night my sweetheart took me to see the Wailin' Jennys, which was completely lovely.  And another good way, we discovered, to bring some color to February.