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 A few years ago, I knit a heart and put it into a scrapbook 12″x12″ frame. It’s on the wall in my little foyer (seen here) and I kind of love it. When I came across this pin of a crochet pineapple heart (on Valentine’s Day, no less), I knew it would make a great accompaniment to my knit heart. You can find the original crochet hotpad pattern HERE. I used some worsted weight yarn and 5.5mm (US-I) hook. It’s kind of beautiful.    I know Valentine’s Day has passed, but I kind of like hearts. And I LOVE yarn. My scrap jar is one of my favorite sources of craft supplies. This project is so easy, I didn’t take any step-by-step photos.  You start with a wire hanger (mine is coated in white plastic*), shape it into a heart, or circle, or whatever shape you want, untwist the top, thread your balls of yarn scraps around the whole thing, then re-twist the top. Done. No glue means you can re-use the yarn if you find yourself on the path of, say, a granny square afghan.   *My plastic-coated hanger kept its original twist while I threaded, so re-twisting was a cinch. Pin It I made heart shaped coasters, but you could switch out the shape with whatever you like. You could give THESE away as Valentines! They’re fairly quick to complete and easy peasy. 
 1. Adhere your heart to your coaster with a small piece of tape. Mark the “corners” of the heart by placing a ruler across the tile diagonally and making small marks on the edges. 2. Working with a LONG piece of floss (leave the non-working tail connected to the rest of your floss), insert the needle at the bottom tip of the heart, from front to back. 3. Bring the floss back over and insert about 1/8″ from first spot. Continue bringing the floss to the front and stitching at evenly-spaced (as even as you can muster) intervals along the edge of your heart.  4. When you get to a corner, stitch in the spot, then come up along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same space. 5. Continue stitching along this side until you get to the next corner. Stitch into that space, bring the floss back over along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same spot. Continue stitching until you run out of floss. If you get back to the beginning, stitch into the first spot, then knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. You’re done! If you run out of floss, follow steps 6-7:  6. Cut a long piece of floss from your non-working end and re-thread your needle with it. ON THE BACK of the coaster, bring the now working thread through the first two or so stitches, then start embroidering up the side, the same way you did the first half of the coaster. 7. When you get to your original thread, knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. Now, you’re done!  Like I said above, use them as coasters or little pieces of art! You could use this same method to embroider on cardstock to make a lovely Valentine’s Day card. I’m going to make some for my boys! Pin It craft tools I missed Day 2 because I was busy doing copious amounts of laundry. I washed all of my kiddo’s blankets only to have one of them (the littlest one) puke all over his bed in the middle of the night. Chunky, pink, smelly puke. I was being punished for missing this day, I KNOW IT. So…enjoy these extra shots! I love my hooks and needles. I only put in two sets of DPNs with my hooks because they were in the same jar. I should do this again with my knitting needles!    Day 3 (today) coming up shortly! [See my other craft photos from this month.] Pin ItValentine’s Day is less than a week away! Yeah, I know, it’s a faux-holiday invented by major corporate scum to steal all our money! And blah blah blah. It’s also one of the few times a year I get to play with pink! I think I’ve said this before, but being a mom to boys means I don’t often see pink. You could say that’s my fault for following gender rules, but really, my son loves pink! He just doesn’t choose it as often as he chooses red or orange. It’s ok with me, because I do love me some orange. I just get a little tired of passing over pink, is all. Anyway…This weekend, my sister chipped in and helped me with the single party favor I had my heart [!] set on making for Nate’s pre-k class. Heart crayons. Though stripping them of their paper and breaking them into small enough pieces was an absolute [and literal! my thumb still hurts] pain, they came out lovely. ![heart crayons [1]](http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4060/4341112706_57f451019c_z.jpg?zz=1) Most how-to’s on the subject of heart crayons show an aluminum pan filled with crayon bits. Well, I went out and bought an aluminum pan, made a batch, but could NOT get them out! It was awful. So, I went out again and found a silicone pan and these lovely hearts were easily achieved. ![heart crayons [3]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4341111314_efda9ebc4c_m.jpg) ![heart crayons [4]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4340366197_4c7e3623f9_m.jpg) I actually didn’t have enough crayon scraps (and I wasted a lot in the aluminum pan), so I bought 2 boxes of 64 Rose Art crayons ($2 each) for these. We split them up by color group and filled the slots accordingly. The aluminum pan fiasco taught me that contrasting colors didn’t go too well together in this project. I tried my best to keep them all within the same color group. I love the marbled–spin-art-ish–look! ![heart crayons [2]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2685/4340367527_2dc29810a9_z.jpg?zz=1) I made a cheesy little tag with the line “you color my world” on it. Valentine’s Day party is this Friday! ETA (some years later) Separate your crayons by color groups: reds/pinks, purples, blues, greens, oranges/yellows. To get the paper off easily, cut a slit down the length of the crayon with a knife. Break them into ~1/3″ – 1/2″ pieces and place like colors into pans. You get a better result if you mix lighter shades of a certain group with darker shades. I also like to add a piece or of contrasting color. Go wild! It makes a great sorting game. My kiddo liked it and then when I let him break the crayons? pssssh. Dream come true! Bake between 225F and 250F for about 10 minutes. Take a look at them after 10 and if they are completely melted, gently take them out, and let them cool for at least 10 minutes. If there are still some chunks after 10 minutes, let them go for another minute or two. Keep an eye on them! Have fun! Pin It |
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and cut them up. 9 per tile!)
from amazon because I couldn’t find it at my local stores. 
