Handmade + Heartfelt: Embroidered Pin

Remember the FaveCrafts Valentine swap that I mentioned? Well, here's the card that I made for Barbara, my exchange partner. I stitched her an embroidered felt pin so that she can wear her heart on her sleeve tomorrow.

Here's how I made mine so that you can make one for yourself or someone you love...

In order to make sure that the pin fit properly in the card, I made a template based on the size of the cutout window I planned on making in the card.

Using the template, I cut two identical hearts out of red eco-felt.

The ingredients I used in the next steps were embroidery floss, a needle, and a bar-shaped pin.

I embroidered a sweet little design on the heart that would become the front of the pin. I cut two small slits in the other heart so that I could insert the ends of the bar-shaped pin through the felt. I stitched through each of the holes in the bar, securing it to the heart and making sure that all knots were on the same side of the felt as the bar. This way the metal body of the pin could be neatly hidden inside the heart once both sides were sewn together.

Using red embroidery floss, I blanket-stitched the two shapes together. Because I was mailing the pin on a card, I decided to leave it flat. {For a puffy heart, just add a pinch or two of fiberfil between the layers as you sew the pin closed.}

Lastly, I made a single-fold card with pink cardstock, punched a cutout window, hand-lettered a cute message + pinned the heart in place. A homemade envelope from polka-dot scrapbook paper wrapped it all up. I really hope Barbara likes it!

Do you have any special plans with your sweetie for Valentine's Day tomorrow? ❤

Handmade + Heartfelt: Decorated Matchbox

See this cute little thing? It's my first ever decorated matchbox! I made it for the February Love Matchbox swap, another exchange hosted by Rachel of Swap-bot. There's a whole community of crafters out there that dress up tiny boxes like these for all kinds of occasions and themes, stuff their little drawers with bits of goodness + send them off to brighten others' mailboxes!

Lots of matchbox swappers use store-bought boxes as a base to build on. I decided to use Rachel's template for a traditional-style 32-count matchbox, which I printed directly onto colored cardstock. With the help of a craft knife, bone folder, and a little glue, I had the box assembled in a matter of minutes.

The next part is the fun one: decorating! I used a combination of cardstock, patterned scrapbook paper, glittery ribbon + baker's twine to create a layered band around the box. I used one of Martha's decorative punches to give the cardstock a lacy edge. A little heart-shaped brad made the perfect drawer pull!

I filled the drawer with homemade confetti, little heart-shaped stickers, brads, beads and bits of ribbon + yarn. It felt great to get a nice thank-you back from my swap partner, Holley, saying how it brought her a smile. Success! :o)

If you're looking for a cute way to sweeten someone's day... make them a matchbox + fill it with candy, an itty bitty card or some other tiny treasure. ♥

Enjoying the Moment

Sorry for the light posting last week. I was taking some time to enjoy the little moments that can too easily slip by, like...

Monkeying around with my niece Emilia + taking TONS of grainy self-portraits with the phone.

Making magical memories with Kevin on his very first trip to Walt Disney World!

And standing at the base of the Tree of Life, excitedly calling out the names of all the animals hidden among its sprawling roots and branches.

I'll get back up to speed with posting this week. Because she's too cute for words, here's another photo of Little E. In the week that she was here, her hair went from barely-there to almost-brushable. Crazy how fast it's grown! ♥

I hope that you're taking time to enjoy life's little moments that happen far away from the computer!