heart banner

Hi there! I don't know about you, but winter is really beginning to wear on me. This one has been especially long and brutal! A few late winter/Valentine's Day crafts are just what I needed to cozy in, warm up my hands, and get us through. I finally made a little heart banner for our mantel. We're closing in on February, one of my favorite months and V-day is less than 3 weeks away!

Banner: I love warm, pinky colors and it was so fun sorting through my scrap fabrics to make the hearts! The banner was super simple to make: Just cut rectangles of linen fabric and fold them in half. (Burlap would also look great!) I left the edges torn for a more country look. I cut the hearts out by hand and used iron-on applique to adhere them to the linen rectangles. Last I just sewed them to a pretty piece of leftover ribbon from Paper Source. I love that I didn't have to run out and buy a single thing to make this!
Doily jars: I've seen a few different versions of these fancified empty jars around blogland. How fun to put my stash of empty canning jars to good use! I simply took a stack of mini doilies, cut them up at haphazard angles, and used double-stick tape to stick them to my little collection. I finished them off with a little bakers' twine and stuck a tea light candle in the bottom of each one. (Well almost each one--I came up a couple short and need to pick up some more before I can take a photo of them lit and give you the full effect!)
In between snapping these photos and posting this post, I stopped dead in my tracks, dropped everything, and emergently googled minneapolis chimney sweeps...As I was hanging this little banner, I could hear a wild rumpus of birds/and or squirrels in our chimney!! Sorry critters, I am not a fan of sharing our house. The bad news is, some furry little friends are officially homeless. The good news is, our fireplace is officially fit for fire building! Really excited to finally be able to use it!