I used a white coat hanger as the form for this wreath, shaping it into a heart with some pliers.

I covered the hanger with newspaper, tacking it down with hot glue.

I colored strips of newspaper with pink food coloring, just like I did for my newspaper flowers and gift wrap.

After the strips dried, I shaped them into different sized roses.

Then I glued the paper roses onto the heart with hot glue, using the pliers to hold them down instead of my fingers (have you learned that lesson, too?)

I glued them randomly around the top half of the heart, adding more paper if needed to make them fuller.

To add some color to the roses, I sprayed some’ “Scarlet’  Glimmer Mist into the center of the roses. I did this by cutting some circles out of a napkin and spraying through the holes. This kept the mist from overs-praying.

I think they look really pretty after the Glimmer Mist is added!

Finally, I added a baby pink satin bow at the top.

This week has flown by hasn’t it?

My daughter is currently working on a self-portrait in the style of Frida Kahlo.  We’ve been learning about Kahlo and her work this week and it’s been interesting for me since I didn’t know much about her.

Hopefully, she’ll let me share her portrait with you soon!

Thanks for stopping in!

It took a little longer than I planned, but it’s finally done!

My little sweetie, Knox, has a double ear infection, so there hasn’t been a lot of time for art the last few days.  He just got started on a new antibiotic today so I sure hope it kicks in quick. My little guy has hardly slept at all (and neither has his mama).

On to the tree! The framework for our tree is a few long sticks gathered from a nearby park in our neighborhood.  I filled a pot with rocks, set it inside the urn and then stuck the sticks down into the pot.  The rocks hold the sticks in place really well.

I told my daughter before we began that we were only going to use supplies we had on hand and stuff from the recycle bin.  This is easy on the bank account and really does allow for more creativity.  I bet you could come up with a zillion other ways to make some Valentine’s ornaments with things you have around your place.  Here are some photos of the things we used to inspire you!

We cut some small hearts from a few cotton rounds from the bathroom.  They have a pretty quilted look.

Next we used the favorite go-to item from the recycle bin: paper towel rolls.

We cut off pieces about 3/4 of an inch thick and formed them into hearts.

Using hot glue, we glued three of them together and painted them with white acrylic paint.

On another paper towel roll, we covered it with some pretty scrapbook paper, and cut off pieces the same as before.

This time, however, we glued them into flowers.

We cut some larger hearts from coffee filters. They have a pretty translucent quality.

My daughter found this thinga-ma-jig from  the inside of a jewelry box and decorated it with a red marker.

She also found a piece of plastic from the recycle bin, punched out a heart, and colored it with a red Sharpie marker.

Here’s a heart punched out of the scrapbook paper and put inside a bubble wrap envelope (also found in the recycle bin).  We put the bright colored heart inside and stapled it at the top.

Larger hearts were cut from cardboard.

Small slits were made with scissors around the hearts…

Then my daughter wound ribbon around the hearts, using the slits as guides.

Here’s another one she made with a red pom-pom in the middle.

We had three of the larger hearts, plus all of these ornaments! Time to decorate our tree!

I stuffed some red tissue around the base and cut some clear fishing line to hang the ornaments onto the tree.  Some of the ornaments were  hung onto the smaller branches.

As we added ornaments on, we tied ribbons around the tops.

This was a really fun project!  I hope this inspires you and your young artists.

Up next, I’ll show you a heart-shaped wreath made from newspaper.

Thanks so much for coming by to see our tree, hope you’re having a fun-filled week so far!

Here’s another green idea for Valentine’s Day, no paper required!

And I also wanted to let you know that another set of Owl Valentine’s has been added to my shop.  Feel free to share the link with any owl lovers you may know.

All proceeds from my shop go to Cockayne Syndrome research.

Our Valentine’s tree is up next!

I had two bottle caps left over from my Christmas ornaments and I couldn’t throw them away.

I decided to make some tiny bird cages with them.

The caps were painted with white acrylic and dried grape stems (of course!) were glued inside the caps.

I made tiny birds out of pink Sculpey and set them in the tiny trees.

These are the tiniest birds I’ve ever made, only about a quarter of an inch long.

The bird was glued into the tree with a dab of hot glue.

The wire is 18 gauge–I like it because it’s easy to bend back and forth and break off without using wire cutters.

Instead of trying to create a traditional looking cage, I snipped some off and let it retain it’s spiral shape.

One end of the spiral was fitted around the cap and glued on with Gorilla Glue.

I tapered the spirals and made a hook at the top.

Cotton was stuffed down into the cap and baby pink yarn was wrapped around it.

I tied on pink ribbon and hung a silver heart from the top.

Valentine’s Day is only 3 weeks away!

We’ve been busy making ornaments for our Valentine’s tree using only craft scraps and stuff around the house.  I hope you’ll come back and see it.

Have a great week!

Just like my last mini canvases I covered these with fiber paste.  This time I also sprinkled them with sparkly fine glitter while they were still wet and set painted dried grape stems on top.

My kids are so funny! Every time they finish up a bunch of grapes they smile big and ask, “You want these stems, Mom?”

Of course I do!

I also swirled a spot of blue paint, and I mean a tiny spot, into the wet paste to give it the softest hint of blue.

Then I sculpted a little blue bird from paper clay and painted it the same soft blue when it was dry.   Then I glued it on so that it looks as if it’s perched on a snowy branch…

I added on words cut from book text and brushed some of the paste over the edges.

Here’s a winged heart about to take off in flight (or that’s the look I was going for anyway).

Thank you so much for visiting my blog.  Creating things is a much needed outlet for me right now, but it’s even more enjoyable when people come to visit!

Up next…my daughter finally talked me into creating a Valentine’s tree.  More to come!