Love Match

Here is a unique yet practical Valentine's Day gift. Inexpensive, and with a strong graphic, this warms my crafter heart. I hope it lights your fire. (stop me!)

Materials

box of kitchen matches

white cardstock

double stick tape or glue stick

Tools

stapler

Download this PDF file here. Change your "page setup" to borderless letter size otherwise you will lose parts of the labels. Print on white cardstock. You can make 4 boxes.

If you want to wish the happy couple a greeting, cut out a "you are" label. If you want to give this to your love, cut out "we are".

Staple this label to the inside of one end of the inside box. Fold the label to use as a pull tab.

Adhere the "Happy Valentine's Day label to the light cardboard match belt (I have no idea what it's called) inside the box.
Stick the label "A Perfect Match" or "A Match Made in Heaven" to the front of the matchbox.

Did you notice that the flame on the match is an upside down heart? So clever. (I'm double jointed so that I can pat myself on the back)

Transfer Update

I've had a number of technical questions about this post on image transfers so I decided to reexamine the process.

For the original post, I dug into my stash of nifty stuff and found IBM Overhead Transparency Film which I used. The questions I got led me to believe that there may be other transparencies available out there that I might explore. Enter HammerMill Transparencies.

You are instructed to print on one side; the slightly rough side that has been coated. Trouble is, it hardly budged when I tried to rub it on the wrong side. No transfer, or rather a very weak one after lots of rubbing.

I tried spraying the image with hair spray. I got transfers but they were spotty at best. A little too much hairspray and the image smeared. I was unable to transfer anything but black. Was all lost?

One last college try. What would happen if I printed on the slick (wrong) side? Victory! Not only did the letters transfer rather nicely but I got a very interesting look with a color photo.

I guess this is a case for experimenting and breaking the rules. Something I heartily endorse.

Wired Heart

This is a simple, elegant piece of Valentine jewelry. I wonder why I didn't think of this before.

Materials:

heavy copper wire

stick pin blank

feather

glue (Goop or E-6000)

Tools:

needle nose pliers

regular pliers

hammer

bench block

Take a length of thick copper wire. Unfortunately, I don't know the gauge, but I imagine it is 14 or 16. I found this in the electrical department of my local hardware store.

Bend it in half (I squeezed the fold with pliers), then bent it back out partially. This makes for a nice sharp point. Curl the ends to form the top of the heart. Use needle nose pliers if necessary.
Pound the wire with a heavy hammer. You need to put it on a hard surface, steel is best (I used a bench block which is a piece of steel adhered to hardwood). A concrete garage floor works if you have nothing else. The heart will warp when flattened. Turn it over and pound from the other side to straighten it out.
Take a stick pin blank and glue a section cut from a feather to the flat end. Cut the feather piece to look like the end of an arrow.
Place the heart on the piece of clothing and pierce the fabric with the stick pin as shown above.

On your sleeve perhaps?

Carve Your Heart Out

I can't believe how easy it is to carve MDF. It cuts like butta.

Materials

1/2" MDF (medium density fiberboard)

small dowel

carpenter's glue

primer

red acrylic paint

Tools

saw

utility knife

drill

paint brush

Cut a basic rough heart shape out of MDF. Carve the shape with a utility knife using short shallow cuts. Make a cut line from the cleavage (heart cleavage?) into the main heart. Chip slices towards the cut line to define the lobes.

Drill a small hole in the back making sure that you don't drill all the way through. Put glue on the end of the dowel and insert into the drilled hole. Omit this step if you wish -I'm using this for another project (next post) so I need the stem.

Spray with primer.

Paint the heart and dowel with red acrylic. Several thin coats cover much better than a thick one.

This looks so great and is so much fun to make that I'm wondering what else I can carve; stars? flowers? animals? letters?

All You Need

Image transfers are magic to me. The ability to produce perfect lettering on a piece of wood without having to do it freehand is wonderful. There are many ways of transferring, but most use either heat or solvents which won't work on a painted surface. This will work. Think rub-ons.

Lori Barker helped me with this. You can view her fantastic artwork here.

Materials

overhead transparency film

2 painted boards (9"x 12")

scotch tape

clear spray paint

carpenter's glue

Tools

ink jet printer

wooden stick (popsicle stick or bone folder)

drill

Download "All You Need is Love" here or "Love is All You Need" here. Print it using a borderless letter size on a piece of overhead transparency film. Set your print command to "transparency" or "glossy photo paper".

You can compose your own lettering and reverse it (important). The command for reversal in Photoshop is "flip horizontal". You need to save your image as a picture in Word then flip it (goggle for instructions). Some printers will reverse. Look for the commands of "flip, reverse or mirror" in your computer application.

The lettering on the film will be very wet when it comes out of the printer. Handle carefully. I heat the lettering with a hair dryer (a heat gun may melt the film) and let it sit for awhile.

Turn it over so that the printed side is down and lay it gently on your painted surface. Tape it in the middle of each side so that the film won't slip. Rub with your wooden stick. Lift to see if everything has transferred leaving the tape in place. Continue to rub until everything has transferred. Remove the film. The lettering will be gray.

The image is water soluble so any mistakes can be removed with a damp Qtip. If you accidently remove something you want to keep, place the film back on the surface and rub again. (it may work)

Start with a very light coat of clear spray to seal and protect the image. Spray several coats after the initial one is dry to fully waterproof.

Drill a hole partially through the middle of your board and insert the dowel from your carved heart, using carpenter's glue. Attach a sawtooth hanger on the back and let everyone know that you have a romantic soul and you like the Beatles.

Greenhouse Cloche

Everywhere I look I'm seeing cloches. Although I can't make perfect cylindrical glass domes, I can approximate the idea with dollar stores frames. Check it out.

Materials

4 - 5x7" frames

2 - 4x6" frames

1/2" wood

carpenter's wood glue

mat board

2 wooden curtain rings

2 small round mirrors

white acrylic paint

brown shoe polish

Tools

scissors

hole punch

paint brush

hot glue gun

When I bought these frames at my local dollar store I stood in front of the frame aisle and tried different combinations until I found the right fit. This works because the 5x7 frames have thick wooden areas and the 4x6 ones have thin ones. You may find other combinations of sizes that work as well.

Strip out the frames.

Glue the larger frames together along the 7" sides, to form a cube.

Attach the 4x6 frames together along a very thin edge of the 6" sides. Attach the other 6" sides to the top of the cube. This will form the roof of the greenhouse.

Clamp with tape until the glue has dried and set up.

Fill the gap formed at the peak of the roof with a piece of 1/2" by 1/2" wood, the length of the roof. I cut my wooden filler out of a piece of 1/2 plywood but you might be able to find a piece of molding at your local lumber yard to fit. (since you are covering this, you could use styrofoam or several strips of foam core)

Fill the two triangles at the ends of the roof with mat board.

Cut a length of mat board the length of the roof and 2" wide. Use a penny to trace a series of scallops along one long side. Cut out. Punch a hole in the center of each scallop. Score a line one inch above the opposite long edge and fold. Carefully remove the center cardboard so that you have two paper wings. Glue over the wooden filler to form the gingerbread decoration on the roof peak.

Cut two thin strips of mat board to cover the gaps formed where the roof meets the cube.

I glued small round mirrors that I found at Michael's to the back of small wooden curtain rings then glued them to the center of the mat board triangles.

Cover a white pillar candle with a page from an old book, wrap with twine and hot glue a vintage game piece over the knot. Black paper butterflies (a Martha paper punch) are glued to the candle as well.

The cloche was painted with several coats of white acrylic paint inside and out. When dry, I rubbed brown shoe polish over the entire surface, buffing off for an antique look. Lastly, I replaced the glass then added a small dollop of hot glue at each corner to secure.

The cloche was placed over my altered candle and I welcomed the many oohs and aahs. (mainly from me)

Magic Wand

Do you know those times when you need something more than a card but less than a gift or when your gift sucks so you need to have a really neat something extra? This may fill the bill. Go to the after holiday sales and stock up on tinsel garlands.

Materials

dowel or stick

silver spray paint

tinsel garland

thin ribbon

parchment paper

white glue

grommet

tools

hot glue gun

scizzors

Sometimes I use a dowel for these, but I chose a garden stick this time because I think it has more personality. Spray silver then put a dollop of hot glue about 1/2" down from the skinnier end. Attach one end of the tinsel. Wrap the garland up, over and around the top of the stick; adding a drop of hot glue every so often to keep it in place. When the ball looks the right size, put hot glue at the bottom of the ball and glue the tinsel in place. Cut off the rest.

Cut six - foot long lengths (more or less) and fold them in half, but not evenly in half. Glue them to the stick just below the tinsel ball. When you have attached all six, cut another 1 foot length and wrap it around the tops of the ribbon, glueing as you go. Allow the ends to fall down with the others.

If you have one of those wonderful glassine envelopes, ignore these instructions. If not, get the parchment paper out of the kitchen and cut it into a 4 inch square. Fold it in thirds, overlapping by about 1/4 of an inch. Crease the folds. Open it up and fold the top and bottom about 3/4". Cut off the four corners along the folds then cut the top and bottom into half circles.

Glue the overlapping back pieces together with a very small line of white glue. Place a thin line of glue on one half circle edge and fold up to form an envelope.
Write "Birthday Wishes" on the front with an ultra fine Sharpie, then fill with confetti or glitter. *note - do not use that super fine mica glitter if you value your friendship. That stuff goes everywhere. I'm still wiping it up off the floor, my clothes and my dog. (sorry Martha)

Glue the top down and put a grommet through the top fold.

Thread one of the ribbons through the grommet and tie a knot to keep it in place.

If any wand can grant a birthday wish, this one can.