Valentine Garland or Photo Back Drop

Were you wondering what I did with those hearts from my previous tutorial on how to bring a cut file from Adobe Illustrator into Silhouette Studio {without having to pay for the software}?

Well today is your lucky day!

There isn't a mantel here and I'm pretty sure we will be moving this summer, either somewhere else in town or someplace new all together, depending on Paul's job. As a result I have not been too enthused to put all our photos and frames up, or our shelves.

So this simple, vertical garland, was a great way to add a little something for our Valentine Decor, is super easy and cheap.

MATERIALS/SUPPLIES
Cardstock to fit the size of your cutting machine {color(s) are up to you}
Floss Thread
Cut File {or Printable Pattern if you are going to cut them out by hand}

TOOLS
Silhouette Electric Cutter {or Exacto}
Scissors
Tape

INSTRUCTIONS
I am sure there doesn't really need to be instructions here but I'll list a simple step by step so I can share a tip or two.

Download the cut file and cut out the amount of hearts you need. 

By Hand: Print out PDF on the back side of the card stock, use the draft setting on your printer, this way if any lines still show they will be on the back of the heart. Use Exacto knife if you want the 3D hearts to flap open.

TIP: I cut out extra of both styles and colors because I was not entirely sure of the pattern I was going to put on the wall and did not want to have to go back and cut more. Just take any extra and use them to add love notes around the house for each other or place them on your childs bedroom door because they love stuff like that and will know you love them.

Decide on how far apart you want your vertical garlands {mine are 9" apart}. Use a small piece of clear tape to anchor the top and bottom of the floss. 
TIP: Just in case, I tied a knot at the top of the floss to keep it from sliding out of the tape.

Pull the floss snug but not tight, you don't want to pull it out from the tape at the top, and tape the end down.

Create a pattern or place hearts randomly along the floss on the wall {mine are about 17" apart as they go vertically up the wall}. Just roll a piece of tape and stick the heart to the wall and floss. I didn't end up using any 3D gold hearts but the red ones I have up turned out great.

BAM!!! Heart Attack Vertical Garland or Photo Back Drop

I would love to hear from you and see your projects. Leave a comment or #AlwaysCreate on your photos in Instagram. Find me on Instagram {@AlwaysCreate} and follow along for behind the scenes and fun little extras.

Our New Valentine Tradition

Paul is in the theatre department as a grad student and has a show that opens up next week, which means for the next two weeks we will hardly see him. So Valentine dinner was moved to the following week at lunch time and we decorated cookies instead of making a big fancy meal.Now that we have finally had our Valentine lunch I can share it with you all.

"I Love You Because..." I love this saying for so many reasons. It causes people to think about why they love someone, suddenly the word 'Love' can not be thrown around but causes you to think about what you 'Love' about the other person.....and it is always nice to hear what it is about you that your partner loves.

Here is our little lunch time Valentine bar.

The wall of mismatch picture frames with photos from while we were dating, anniversary trips, family, holidays and other meaningful events {we share this wall with our neighbors and their staircase is on this wall, the picture frames are constantly crooked, it drives me crazy.} My new sign along with our garland to hang our hearts on. And of course, a bunch of sweet treats. Paul wanted chocolate covered strawberries but it seems everywhere stops selling them the day after Valentines, so I got him his next favorite, raspberry fill donuts.

For our new Valentine tradition I made the burlap sign and cut out some hearts. While Lady A played in the sprinkles and we decorated cookies, trying to keep her out of the frosting, we also wrote on the hearts what it is about the other, or our little girl, that we love. Then I bound them together for a little keepsake that will become part of our Valentine Decor over the coming years. When Lady A and Lady #2 are old enough they will join in the fun too and can look back at what mom and dad wrote about why we love them so much.

The tutorial for the burlap sign can be found here.

 

Check out some of my other simple Valentine crafts:

Burlap Sign

Tissue Paper Heart

Love is the tie ..... chalk board printable

I Love You Because....Burlap Panel Tutorial

Have you seen these fun new Burlap Panels from Michaels? As soon as I walked past them I was in love and wanted to try them out right away. This package had three 8" x 10" flat panels and with a 40% off coupon, super reasonable in price.

This is the year of starting new traditions and this panel will go along perfectly with a new tradition I want to start. More on that later.....first lets talk about how I created this project.

Design your sign in Silhouette Studio {unfortunately I do not have the designer edition so I can not create a .SVG file to share with you all. Instead I have a .Studio file you can download from here. If you use my file on another project I would love to see it so be sure to link back and give me credit for my design. This is the first time I am trying to share a file so PLEASE let me know if it does not work.}

As you can see I did not center mine very well but this was a first time cutting on vinyl too! A lot of firsts in this post...YEA! Get you vinyl cut and gather you other items for your project.

I used:

Black and Red Liquitex Acrylic Color

Sponge Brushes

Burlap Panel

Silhouette Portrait

Cutting File

Weed out the vinyl sign after cutting it and place it on the burlap panel. As with a lot of firsts there is some trial and error. I was able to line the sides up but then used a clear ruler to help me center my saying from top to bottom.

Note: When lifting off the transfer paper from the vinyl take your time. The little pieces for the letter will lift with the transfer paper. Also be sure to take your finger or something else and trace all the edges of your cutout.

Put a bit of paint on the sponge brush and dab onto the burlap.

Note: The burlap has loose fibers so the vinyl won't always create a perfect 'seal' this is why dabbing instead of brushing is the way to go. If you brush the paint will push under the vinyl a bit and will not give you such a crisp line, but that might be what you are going for. Dabbing will also allow more paint to sink into the burlap so that your image will be more saturated.

If you find yourself in the same situation as me {the cutout is super close to one edge} you can use masking tape to extend the edge then you will not have to worry so much about your paint going over.

Pill the vinyl off once the paint is mostly dry. The reason to pull it up while it is still a bit tacky is so that when the vinyl is lifted the paint will separate easier and not come up with vinyl, making you design look choppy.

See how I used my burlap panel for our new Valentine tradition here.

Valentine Chalkboard Printable

Here is my second attempt at making a chalkboard printable. I downloaded the chalkboard backgrounds from here. I put mine together in Photoshop but you can create it in Picasa just as well.

Simply open the chalkboard background in the color of your choice, then add your text on top. For Christmas I got a Samsung Note and absolutely love it. I wanted to have a bit of a hand drawn element to this one so I used the note to draw the heart. After a little bit of photoshop magic I was able to remove all the background and change the color to pink. If you would rather, you can download mine and print so you can add it to your own Valentine decor.

This is a 8.5"x11" so you can 'shrink to fit' if you are printing it to a smaller size. Enjoy!!

~Mindy

Cards for that Special Someone...

Cards for that Special Someone...and all those special people in your life.

Tell all those you care about just how much they mean to you. This is a fun and simple card to be able to do just that. The font was really fun to work with and adds a lot of character. Is there a specific sentiment that you would like?..... No problem. Just let me know at time of purchase and I would be happy to change the font of the card to whatever fits you. Simply stated on the inside 'Happy Valentines Day' leaving you room to write a note of your own.

Each set comes with 4 cards (4.25 in x 5.5 in folded) and 4 matching red stylized envelopes.