Heart Felt Burlap Pillow: Valentine's Day Project

I've had some burlap pillows laying around in the craft closet that I've been wanting to use for a while, so today I pulled out some felt, floss, and a needle and created this very easy Heart Felt Burlap Pillow that's a perfect Valentine's Day Project.  This is so easy!  You can either make your own burlap pillow -- Check out 2 Friends & 2 Cities Burlap Pillow Tutorial -- or you can buy a burlap pillow.  There are a few shops on Etsy that sell plain burlap pillows:  BatesonBoutique and TheRuffledDaisy.  Or, if you have some other types of pillows around the house that could use a little "pick me up," feel free to use one of those.  This is the perfect project to recycle some old pillows.

Materials:
12" X 12" Burlap Pillow or a different pillow of your choice - feel free to change the pillow size as well
Felt
Floss
Needle

Select the type of pillow you'd like to use.

Cut out your heart from a piece of felt.  This heart measures about six inches wide and about 5 inches tall.

Place the heart on the pillow and get ready to sew.

Knot one end of the floss and attach the felt heart to the pillow with the needle and thread with a simple straight stitch all of the way around. Tie off.

Enjoy your pillow!

DIY Valentine's Day Wreath Ideas

I had to put together some of my favorite Valentine's Day wreath ideas.  I've seen so many around and wanted to share my absolute faves, given that February 14th will soon be upon us!  These are the best DIY wreaths I've found so far so grab some supplies and get your crafting on....

I love this felt wreath from The Idea Room.  It looks so sophisticated!

 Coffee filters..... for real!  The Little Apple Seed did a great job sharing   this Valentine's Day Coffee Filter Wreath.

Yes, these are doilies.... lots of them.  I love Madigan Made's Heart-Shaped Doily Wreath!

Lullaby Lubbock's Valentine Wreath is so simple but so fun looking!  Yarn... Yarn..... Yarn

Thrifty Decorating's Valentine's Rose Wreath looks so professional.  I love the square wreath.  Definitely could be used for more than just Valentine's Day!

And last, but certainly not least, I had to put something in here pertaining to food.  This Sweet Valentine's Day Wreath - Cupcake Style from My Cake School looks so yummy!

Hot Chocolate and Coffee Bar Party Idea!

The hot chocolate and coffee bar we set up for Madeleine's party was truly a hit!  It was perfect because the adults could enjoy a fun cup of coffee (with or without Bailey's) and the kids could make a super sweet cup of hot chocolate with lots of goodies on top.  Of course there were plenty of adults who indulged in some hot chocolate as well.  I wanted to share our hot chocolate and coffee bar with you so you could entertain some of your guests with some warm treats at your next party!

I purchased a 2 quart Coffee Thermos on Amazon and filled hit with hot chocolate.  I had every intention of making hot chocolate from scratch, but that didn't happen given all of the other details I had to remember the day of.  However, I did use Nestle's milk chocolate mix and heated it with warm milk over the stove.  This thermos was great because I could make the hot chocolate well in advance and the thermos kept it warm throughout the whole party.  I tied a ribbon around and secured it with a hot chocolate label so our guests knew what was inside.

Madeleine and I had so much fun making these great stirrers.... these were a big hit.  Our chocolate covered spoons with crushed peppermint were a great addition to the hot chocolate or the coffee.  

We got a little carried away and had to make chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles too!

And of course.... we can't forget the crocheted coffee sleeves I made in cream and purple to match the pink cups.  The adults and kids got a kick out of these and loved the fact that they got to take them home and continue using them.

They looked great around the pink cups!

Other fun things on the table included: whipped cream, Oreos, chocolate covered pretzels, mini marshmallow, peppermint patties, chocolate sprinkles, and Hershey Kisses.....

We moved our Keurig Coffee Maker to the table, which is perfect for entertaining because it allows guests to choose what kind of coffee they like and is low maintenance for you (other than having to fill up the water every once in a while). 

.... and you can tell I went a little overboard with the labels :)

I definitely recommend this for your next winter party..... everyone gets all amped up on sugar and caffeine... so much fun!!

My Favorite Little Girl Knitted Cardigan

It's here!  I finally finished writing up the pattern for My Favorite Little Girl Knitted Cardigan after a few months (some of you may remember I showed this off to you back in November).  This cardigan is a true favorite because of it's cute flare in a pretty simple pattern.  I've had a vision of this sweater in my mind for a while, did some research to see if there was anything like it out there, and couldn't find anything close, so I came up with my own pattern.  It actually came out better than I had hoped.  It's a top down raglan design with Moss stitch at the edges and it's written for sizes 2 yrs, 4 yrs, and 6 yrs.  Madeleine has sported this around a ton already and I can't wait to make her more as she grows.... 

Materials
• US 9 (5.5 mm) 24” Circular Knitting Needles • US 9 (5.5 mm) DPNS
• 450 - 650 yards of worsted weight yarn
• 4 Stitch Markers
• Scrap Yarn
• 4 Buttons (12mm diameter)


Sizes
• 2yrs(4yrs,6yrs)
• To fit chest sizes 21” (23”, 25”)


Gauge
7.5 stitches and 11 rows = 2 inches 

Felt Heart Pin: Valentine's Day Tutorial

I wanted to share our first Valentine's Day project this year.  I poked around in the craft closet (well, it was more like stumble around because it's quite a mess after the birthday party!) to see what we had around the house and I came up with the materials to make a felt heart pin.  Now we have something fun to wear on Valentine's Day.  It's really simple and takes no time to whip up.....

Materials
Felt (color of your choice)
Cross Stitch Floss (color of your choice)
Marker
Poly fil (or you could use cotton balls)
Flat back metal craft pin
Scissors

You'll need to cut at least 2 squares for the hearts.  The ones I made were about 3" square. 

Fold a square in half and draw half a heart.

Cut out the heart.

Use the first heart to trace the second heart on another piece of felt and cut that heart out.

Place the hearts together and use your floss and needle to sew the hearts together using the blanket stitch.  A tutorial for this stitch can be found here.

When you've stitched almost all of the way around, slip your poly fil into the heart.

Finish your blanket stitch and tie off.

Place your flat metal back craft pin on the back and sew it on.

Wear your new pin!!

Free One Button Crochet Cowl Pattern

Even though I've been busy with the birthday party extravaganza, I worked on this pattern last week when making birthday gifts for some friends.  It's modified from Aesthetic Nest's Sedge Stitch Cowl.   I love how the pattern is open enough to let you pull the button through anywhere, so you can wear this cowl so many different ways.  It's a very quick project and if you use Caron simply soft (which I did here), you can separate one skein into two balls and finish the project with just one skein.  So here goes..... enjoy!

Materials

Size L (8mm) Crochet Hook

1 Skein of Caron Simply Soft yarn divided into two balls

Tapestry Needle to weave in ends

1 Button (7/8" in diameter)

Gauge

6 STS and 4 rows = 2 inches in established pattern (however, gauge isn't as important for a cowl because you can easily adjust the length as needed)

Measurements

About 7 inches wide and 26 inches in length

Instructions

Holding two strands together, CH 20

Row 1: In second CH from hook (SC, 2 DCs) in same space, *skip 2 CHs, (SC, 2 DCs) in next CH, repeat from * to last 3 CHs, SC in last CH

Row 2: CH 1 turn, (SC, 2 DCs) in first SC space from previous row, skip 2 DCs, (SC, 2 DCs) in next SC space, repeat from * to last 3 spaces, SC in last DC space

Rows 3 - 26: Repeat Row 2

Abbreviations

CH(s) = Chain(s)

DC(s) = Double Crochet(s)

SC = Single Crochet