I'm back on my blog today to offer you a fun holiday décor project. I planned this project a year ago when I was invited to do a short feature in a Christmas show for local TV. I enjoyed both the project and the actual TV-performance (although I can't stop laughing when I see or hear a recording of myself), and yesterday when I thought about the fun I had a year ago I felt it would be a shame if I didn't share the project with a wider audience. So here it is. I hope you'll like it!
Paper Fabric Heart Ornaments
You will need:
- a piece of white cotton fabric/muslin
- an assortment of thin papers (e.g. tissue paper, paper napkins, empty teabags, tissue paper that you’ve decorated yourself with permanent markers and paint)
- basic white glue + a pot for thinning the glue
- a plastic bag or Teflon sheet to work on
- a broad paint/foam brush
- embroidery thread/yarn for the hanging loop (25 cm/10”)
- glitter glue
Making the paper fabric
- Prepare the papers by tearing or cutting them into manageable pieces (mine were about 5 cm/2” squares).
- Thin the glue with water: about 1 part of glue to 2 parts of water.
- Place the fabric on your work sheet and brush a generous amount of watery glue over the whole piece.
- Arrange the paper pieces one by one on the wet fabric and brush watery glue over each piece.
- Let the paper fabric dry flat overnight.
- If the paper fabric has curled up while drying you can put it between two sheets of parchment paper and press it flat with a cool iron.
- If you wish, you can decorate the paper fabric further when it’s dry: e.g. with permanent markers, acrylic paint or ink, stamps, stencils, etc.
Making the heart ornament
- Draw your own heart, or use the template provided below and cut out four hearts in paper fabric.
- Fold each heart in half, right sides together.
- Spread glue on the back of one half of a heart and stick it to the back of a corresponding half of a heart.
- Do the same with the remaining two hearts.
- Place a string of glue along the join of two hearts, fold the thread to form a loop and press the loop into the glue.
- Spread glue over the back of two joined hearts and stick them to the other two joined hearts, with the loop in between.
- Finish the edges with glitter glue as a final touch.