How to Make Felt Decorations for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is wonderful time to brighten up the house and lift spirits. Even though the middle of February is cold and gray outside, in the house, wonderfully bright decorations in reds, pinks, and whites will express love and joy. Here are three fun crafts to decorate your home this Valentine's Day. To make any of these, you will need sheets of craft felt in pinks, reds, and white (or your desired colors), coordinating embroidery floss, and basic sewing supplies.

Puffy Heart Hangers

These simple little decorations look darling hung on cabinet knobs, dresser handles, and light fixtures.

For each hanger, you'll need to cut two identically sized hearts from felt. These can be drawn freehand, or traced using a template. A good way to make a template is to print a picture of a heart out onto cardstock in the desired size, and cut it out.

Hold the two hearts together and stitch around them, using either a running stitch about an eight - inch from the edge or a blanket stitch. When they are almost completely stitched, stuff them with a cotton ball or two. The cotton balls can be sprinkled with perfume or essential oil first, if desired. Finish the stitching, and stitch on a little ribbon loop to hang the heart.

Heart Garland

A very cute heart garland can be made using a number a felt hearts, some coordinating buttons, and some 8-12 inch lengths of ribbon. How many hearts and pieces of ribbon needed depends on how long the finished garland needs to be.

Start by making a small slit in each "lobe" of each heart shape. Then attach a button to each end of the ribbon pieces. If the ribbon is quite narrow, 1/8 of an inch perhaps, then it can be threaded through the button holes and tied off in the back. If the ribbon you are using is wider, ½ an inch or so, the buttons can be stitched in place with a needle and sewing thread.

To complete the garland, simply "button" the hearts onto the ribbon ends, forming a chain as long as needed. The end of the garland looks very nice finished with a single smaller heart buttoned on through a slit in it's center.

Loving Meal Placemats

These placemats may seem familiar, if you've ever done a similar project from construction paper, but they are much more durable, and can be re-used every year to come.

Choose two contrasting sheets of craft felt. Fold one sheet in half, and cut strips into it from the fold until about half an inch from the edges. Open this out, and you'll have a single piece, with lots of strips in the center. The other sheet of felt should be cut into strips the short way across. These strips are then woven in and out of the slots on the first piece. When all the placemat has been woven, stitch around the outside to hold all the strips in place.

These can be embellished with beads or buttons, store bought appliqués, or some simple hand embroidery.