Pure Ella

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you light up my heart {garland tutorial}

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Hello my sweet friends. I have a lovely tutorial lined up for you ~ all full of hearts and sparkling lights ~ all the things that make a little girl happy and gasp with joy… I must admit that this is probably the project I’m most proud of – it must be those little hand sewn hearts and lights and lavender scent all strung together in my daughter’s room. And the happy fact that I taught my little girl to sew on one of these little hearts. All because… you light up my heart….

Make your own Scented Heart Light Set Garland!

Here is what you’ll need:

for the hearts: an assortment of fabrics and felt for the backs, (I also incorporated some lace curtains over a lilac solid colour), paper, pencil, paper and fabric scissors, safety pins if handled by child or straight pins if not, needle and tread in colours of choice, yarn to hang, stuffing, essential oil
for the light garland: set of miniature LED lights, white organza ribbon – 12″ little longer than the set of lights, plus I used a feathery trim along with my ribbon to string around the lights.

My photo instructions are to show what I’ve done with my four year old daughter, so my apologies if this is too much but I snapped every little step she did. She was so darn cute wanting to know all about sewing. Sewing! I think I’ve found my little crafting buddy ;)

1. draw a heart (I marked dots for the heart shape – and my daughter connected the dots to make the heart shape for our template). 2 – 3. cut out heart. 4. here’s the heart – that may need a bit of trimming. 6. trace the heart template onto fabric and felt pieces. 6. secure two back to back pieces with safety pins

We have a thing that we unintentionally dress alike ~ I don’t even notice sometimes until I see some photos with us ;)7 – 10. sew all around leaving about 1″ space. 11-12. stuff with stuffing.

Finish hand stitching all around and sew in little loops of yarn to the back.

Making the Scented Heart Light Set Garland:

Here’s an extra little surprise: I have added a few drops of Lavender essential oil to the backs of the hearts. It’s very subtle but enough to add a lovely calming scent to the room – promoting a little relaxation and good sleep that a busy 4 year old surely needs ;) (I added the drops to the backs in case they would stain the fabric)

Simply wrap the ribbon and trim around your lights, feed through the hearts and hang in a special place. I hung our set around my daughter’s bed frame. It creates a beautiful feel and works well with the rest of the room.
Here is my little girl ~ hugging one of the hearts just after she’s seen the finished surprise ;)This is a small little step towards decorating our home for Valentine’s day. But I still wanted something timeless that could be left up all year round, and I think this use of soft pinks, purple, gray with lace is very very pretty and is in no way coming down anytime soon ;) Besides, it’s just filled with too much love to put away ~ it really makes her room and our hearts very happy!

By the way, Gabriella’s room has won an International First Prize on the Smaller Cooler 2011 Contest on Apartment Therapy.com – take a look here for all the photos on AT.

I hope you like this little tutorial. Are you also doing some decorating for Valentine’s Day?

Comments

  1. Once I got to the scented part I was in love! So creative. And completely adorable that you and your daughter matched in the gray ;)

    • Thanks Abby, oh it smells so nice ~ I might have to make one for my bed ;)
      I know we look silly in our striped shirts, but thanks for the compliment ;)
      xoxo

  2. Oh Ella….it is beautiful! Especially watching your young girl sew it all up. She put a bit of herself there and it will continue to inspire her as she grows and tries new things…she will always look back to this moment.

    Lovely.

    m.

    • Thank you Maria,
      Yes she’s really connecting with the craft world and that our hands can make pretty thing – – she’s making quite an order of these hearts for her aunts and classmates for V day – oh boy, they’re cute to make, but we may just switch to paper ;o lol for a bigger quantity ;)
      xo

    • Thanks Clair, I think you would love it now, totally! Heck I want a set too ;) Now that the christmas lights have gone down this was a good excuse to keep some sparkling lights around ;)
      xo

  4. Well that’s it. We will just have to this craft this weekend! I have some filling already but will need to go get some fabric, which I think Kiera will enjoy picking the ones she likes! Apparently we need more Valentines decorations since I go to town with all the other holidays.

  6. Those hearts are adorable! And I love that you scented them with lavender. I’m sure your daughter LOVES going to sleep. (And congrats on the Smaller Cooler contest – that’s fabulous!)

  7. SOO cute! I love that you two dress alike too- hehe. Whenever my mom and I hang out we always crack up when we first see each other because inevitable we are wearing the same color theme for the day.

    Good idea on the essential oil on the back of the hearts- yum. I’ve been wanting to make sachets out of vintage fabric and fill them with our lavender plants in the yard, but I don’t know if there’s a special process to rid the plants of pests if there are any…. next project :D

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