Simple ecofriendly Valentine's Day love hearts made from yarn or twine can be a cute gift or decoration that is budget friendly. Follow these step-by-step instructions and make your own in less than 10 minutes.
You will need:
Yarn or twine
Cardboard
Stick
Scissors
Pencil or Pen
It's best to opt for natural wool yarn or twine, or you could even make your own from old fabric like a T-shirt (instructions here).
Make use of any cardboard packaging that you already have at home, there's no need to buy any.
If you have a cookie cutter, this will come in handy too!
Here are the items I started with;
I'm using yarn from a dysfunctional kids craft kit. You know the ones that don't come with proper instructions or equipment to make what they say on the box. I really hate those!
We were left with random craft materials which I stashed for future use and it really came in handy today.
I used a cookie cutter to trace the outline on an old cereal box, but you can draw it freehand so you get the desired size. You can choose any shape you like, and I can see I will be doing a few crafts with yarn and cardboard in the future.
Cut out the shape and poke a hole in the centre for the yarn to go through. This helps to keep it in place by tying a knot at the back.
Start winding the yarn around, going in the same direction but crisscrossing to cover the cardboard. This will ensure the yarn is securely fitted to the heart and won't unravel.
You might notice I had to do a colour change part way through!
You can continue winding along each end of the stick. I did this as I wanted to make this into a cupids arrow.
Simply wind from the love heart to the end of one half of the stick, then wind back the other way, back to the heart and then onto the second half of the stick. You will want to end at the heart so that you can tie the end of the yarn and tuck it into the heart.
You don't necessarily need to use a stick and you could make the yarn hearts as gift accessories or to make a hanging mobile decoration. This is much easier than making a pom-pom and if you were making something that you wanted to be able to wash, then you can replace the cardboard with some plastic from a milk carton, yoghurt tub or packaging.
I live that this is a quick project that takes around 5-10 minutes, without too much mental effort and the kids can join in too.
What are you making for Valentine's Day this year?