Valentine Hula Hoop Wreath

The supplies for this project are pretty simple...a hula hoop, some pretty fabric, yarn, and a little bit of cardboard. I picked up my hula hoops at The Dollar Tree for $1 each. They come in a few different sizes, and the smallest one that they have is the perfect size for a wreath....and a lot cheaper than most large sized wreath forms out there. I also picked up some fun Valentine fabrics at Hobby Lobby...30% off! You can use scrap fabric for this project too, but for some reason I have very few pink and red fabrics in my collection:)

You start by wrapping the hula hoop with yarn. I tied a knot in the end of my yarn to get it started and then held the end in place while I wrapped a few times. You could also hot glue the end down to make it a little more stable. Wrap the entire hula hoop with your yarn...it probably took me a little over an hour to do while I was watching tv.

The next step is to cut a heart shape out of cardboard. You can use anything you have around your house...cereal boxes or some heavy cardstock should work fine. I used a baby wipe box which is a pretty heavy duty cardboard. Punch a hole in the heart shape where you want to add your hanger. I decided to hang my heart a little crooked, but you could do it right in the center also.

Cut you fabric into strips. I did mine about a 1/2 inches wide and as long as my piece of fabric.

Fold the strips of fabric in half with the wrong sides together and then twist. Once you get them twisted put a small bead of hot glue around the outside edge of the cardboard heart and carefully put your strip of fabric on the heart.

Continue to add your twisted strips of fabrics around the heart shape. Be sure to leave the hole you punched earlier open so that you can thread a piece of fabric or ribbon through as a hanger. I also added a little tulle ruffle to the back of my heart. I simply added a little hot glue to the back and folded and glued the tulle in place.

To finish your wreath, take your completed fabric covered heart and tie it to your yarn covered hula hoop using a strip of fabric or some coordinating ribbon.
This is what two wreaths look like on my front door:

FYI...It is really difficult to get two wreaths perfectly level when the hook is a good 3 feet over your head:)

Wordless Wednesday: Mom's Little Anti-Helper

**In non-Wordless Wednesday related news**

Bonus points from Monday's post go to Amanda for being the first to identify the hula hoops in my picture, and to Mimi for being the first to guess that I was making a hula hoop wreath! Check back tomorrow to see the finished project:)

Miscellany Monday

I.
Monday blogging has become particularly difficult for me lately. I think mostly because I haven't been crafting or taking pictures as much as usual, which means I don't have any posts pre-scheduled. So on Monday mornings I feel a little pressure to be creative {or talkative} and post something while still trying to do the regular Monday morning mom routine!
II.
Jason and I are attempting a new diet/cleanse/torture treatment this week. I actually saw this on the Rachael Ray show and then I saw a book review on a blog. It sounds pretty easy....except not really! You eat the same five foods for five days and they 'guarantee' you will lose 8 pounds.
The 5 foods are:
Eggs
Spinach
Yogurt
Almonds
Raspberries
I figure I can torture myself for five days and hopefully see some results...though I have a feeling I am going to be starving by Saturday and I'm going to be sick of eating eggs:)
III.

 I picked up a few crafting supplies this weekend! I love having an excuse to make something fun and girly...and Valentine's Day is a great excuse for something pink! Because you know a mom of three boys NEEDS an excuse to make something girly every once in a while:)
*Bonus points to the first person who guesses what craft I'm working on and what materials are in this picture*
IV.
My SUPER awesome hubby spent part of yesterday working on some new shelves for our laundry room. We already had the bottom layer of cubbies, but we had too much stuff and not enough space....so he made a second shelf to add to the top. Now I just need to work on getting it organized and possible cute:) I love all the fun and decorated laundry rooms out there....and mine is SUPER boring! I'm hoping these new shelves inspire me to dress up my laundry room a little.

V.
Click on the button to check out everyone's miscellany Monday...plus Carrisa also has a giveaway going on today too:)

See-Through Valentines

I love the idea of homemade Valentines! They just seem like so much more fun than the store bought kind...though I will admit to using store bought Valentines a ton of times more than once in my life:) For the most part, I have managed to make homemade Valentines with the boys for their school parties though.

When I saw these SUPER cute See-Through Valentines on Martha Stewart.com, I knew I had to give them a try...even if they aren't what I end up sending to school with the boys on Valentine's Day!

***

I had a ton of M&M's left over from THIS Christmas craft...perfect for filling my See-Through Valentines! I just sorted out the red M&M's from the green ones:)

 I used my Cricut to cut two hearts {make sure they are the same size} out of wax paper. You could easily do this by hand if you don't have a Cricut, I just knew I couldn't cut out a perfectly shaped heart by hand:)

*can you see where some little mischievous hands got Sharpie on my Cricut mat*

 I used my sewing machine to sew the two hearts together. Again, this could totally be done by hand if you have the patience to hand sew things!

Make sure to leave about a two inch space open so that you can fill your Valentine with candy. I used my leftover M&M's but redhots or conversation hearts would also be really cute in these! Fill the hearts with candy and the sew up the opening with your sewing machine.

Trim off any excess threads and you have a really cute homemade See-Through Valentine that anyone would love to recieve! You could also attach a small gift tag to them or write a special message on the wax paper with a permanent marker.

To enjoy the yummy candy inside the See-Through Valentine, simply tear the wax paper!

I have another idea in mind for Valentines for the boys' to hand out at school, so I think I may make a batch of these See-Through Valentines for my Sunday School class! Kindergarteners would love these:)

linked up at:
Jen's Weekend Wrap Up Party:)

Oh I Wish I Were an Organized Person

Apparently January is all about organizing.

Great! Who doesn't like a little bit of organization in their lives....less clutter & more space sounds good to me. But where do you start when you feel like you may just be as far from organized as any one person can be?!? Well if you are me, you start small...really small.

Magazines.

I have a bunch of magazines. I know it is kind of old school to save magazines, when it is so easy to have a folder on you computer to store all of your found inspirations. BUT, I love that I can pull out a Martha Stewart magazine from 3 years ago and get a great idea for a Christmas craft that 3 years ago I completely overlooked.

My only problem was I had two shelves of very unorganized magazines, so if I wanted to find a few inspirations for a Valentine's Day project it took a while to find all the February issues. My very simple solution was to sort all my magazines by month, thus making it much easier to find exactly what I was looking for. I made twelve different stacks and got busy sorting.

I started on the left hand side of the shelf and placed the magazines January through December...with a little extra room for a few more magazines:)

When I finally recover from the craziness that was Christmas, and I decide to work on Valentine's Day crafts, all of my February magazine are all in one place waiting to inspire me!

What kind of organizing projects are you working on?

linked up at:
Jen's Weekend Wrap Up Party:)