Tutorial Tuesday! Heart Garland

Last week my crafting group got together and decided to make an ever so adorable Valentine's Day craft that I thought I would share with you on this, Tutorial Tuesday! Ok, I know it's Wednesday... but we lost the USB cord to the camera, tore the house apart looking for it, and well... we found it! But now it's Wednesday night. Forgive me.

 So, this Tutorial Tuesdays Wednesdays project is FELT HEART GARLAND! I absolutely adore pretty much anything felt, and always have tons of it laying around my house, so anytime we have a crafting night that involves felt, I am totally down. It's such an easy project, a great time waster, and everyone just had a blast cutting hearts and chatting with each other.

You're going to need a few things, and if you're like me, they might be laying around the house.

1. Felt of various colors. I used hot pink, light pink, white, red, navy and mustard, but the possibilities are endless. I find that wool blended felt holds up a little better than the basic eco felt sheets , but I used both without problems.
2.  Thin Yarn or Crochet Thread. I grabbed a ball of the Sugar and Cream thin yarn in white, but any thin worsted yarn, or even crochet cording could work. As long as you can get it through the eye of a needle.
3. A Yarn Darning Needle. These needles are a little heavier and thicker and the eye is much larger for yarn. It makes life easier. Trust me.
4. Scissors. Felt is pretty easy to cut, but sewing scissors are going to work best and be quickest, and after cutting tons of felt hearts, you're going to want that.
5. Thin cardboard. For your heart template. A cereal box works fine.

Start by making a heart template. Just draw half a heart (it's easier) and fold your felt over and cut on the fold. You can trace it it, or freehand it, whatever works best for you. Continue cutting out hearts from the various colors of felt until you have enough. I think I had about 50 hearts.

When you're ready, cut a LONG piece of yarn, at least as long as you want the garland to be, plus a few inches to work with. Thread your needle and start by making a few running stitches through the center of your hearts. I used 3 on each heart. Pull the yarn through the heart and start on the next one. You can space the hearts evenly, stitch them together, or just go all willy nilly. That's what made this project fun, everyone's looked totally different from each other when we were finished! I didn't follow a color pattern, but feel free to do that if you'd like.

When you're all done, make knots on each end of the yarn and cut off the excess. Hang up in your house wherever you need an extra pop of color!

Here's mine! I draped it over a big black frame we have that hangs over the couch. I just love it, and I might keep it up way past Valentine's day!

xoxo!