DIY String Art Heart Tutorial

This is a super easy project. My brother and I decided we would each make one of these. He wanted to give it to his girlfriend and I'm sharing mine with my husband, hence the M ;-)

Materials
Wood Board
Finishing nails (18 gauge, 1" long is what we used)
String
Hammer
Pencil

Pick your design and draw it lightly on your board. You can also print out a design and just nail through it.

Hammer in nails about 1/2" apart on the outline of your design. Only hammer them in about 1/4". Just enough to be secure, but not go through the board.

After all the nails are in place, Tie the string on a central nail and trim off the excess tail. Remove the paper or erase any obvious lines at this point.

Start wrapping the string from nail to nail in any order. This adds to the randomness of it. Try to wrap it around each nail at least once. 2 or 3 time will make it look fuller. Keep the tension strong so the string doesn't slip off a nail. Every once in a while, tie a knot around a nail just in case it pops off at one point, it won't ruin the whole thing.

Keep filling in the design evenly so you don't end up with bare spots.

If you're adding a design in the center of your heart, be sure that you don't cross that inner area at all! It will ruin the clean look of it. 

Done!

To hang this on a wall, use a picture frame or canvas wall hanging kit.

DIY Valentine's Day Paper Heart Garland

With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to decorate at least a little bit. Although I hate to see books destroyed, I really like this little banner and it was pretty easy to make! So, here are the instructions for how to make your our own paper book heart garland.

Materials

Book ( or any paper)

X-acto Knife (and a cutting surface)

Ruler

Stapler

Staples 

Scissors

Hole Punch

Ribbon or String

Again, I hate cutting up books, so I picked the one I would never read; Economic Analysis and Public Policy. I could have picked something more romantic, but it doesn't matter that much and I liked the look of these pages. 

Start by opening to the book to one of the first or last page and line up the ruler along the edge of the book.

Carefully, cut the pages out a couple at a time. 

Once you've cut out 5-10 pages, line them up on your cutting surface and cut them in half.

You might need to cut them toward you and then away from you to get them cut all the way across. just cut a couple at time and move them aside.

Then cut them in half again. If your book is a small/medium size, this should be good enough to make your hearts. If you're using a large book, you may need to adjust the width to get them the way you want.

Now you should have quite a few strips of paper.

To start the hearts, take 9 strips of paper.

Lay out 4 strips. Fold one in half and lay it on top of the 4 strips so that half of it over laps. 

Lay the other 4 strips on top of that. Line them up with the 4 on the bottom

NOTE: the strips that are touching and facing the folded strip are the ones that will be on the outside of the finished heart. If it matters to you, make sure those sides are the "pretty" ones. They should also be upside down compared to your folded paper to come out upright at the end.

Staple the strips together about 1/4" above the edge of the 8 strips. You can staple it twice to make sure it stays secure.

Start folding the strips down starting with the inner strips.

Pinch them together at the bottom of the folded center strip to keep them in place.

Keep folding them down working one side at a time and them the other.

To make sure your heart will be even, make sure each strip lines up at the bottom with the strip on the opposite side.

Once you've folded down all the strips and lined them up, staple it at the bottom. Make sure you staple through the folded center strip or your hear will be droopy.

Cut off the excess paper on the bottom below the staples.

Hole punch the center strip for the ribbon or string to go through.

 Now you can string them together for a cute banner!

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions!!!