Month of love

February is a month of love for me. It's Valentine's Day soon and my little guy's birthday soon after that... The funny thing is, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to Valentine's Day. My husband and I don't really celebrate it. We do make a bit of effort with silly little love tokens - but no sweeping grand gestures in the form of giant bouquets or candle-lit fine-dining or huge boxes of chocolate truffles (I know, I am SO missing out).  However, my crafty alter-ego goes all gooey inside and adores all things pink and sparkly and lovey-dovey at this time of year! So I simply had to make something to satisfy her - so here it is, a little linen heart.

I was going to write a tutorial on how to make this heart but it is really simple, so I will just tell you quickly now. Cut two heart shapes out of linen. Print out the word "LOVE" in big bold letters, then cut each letter out of different fabrics (or for a more authentic hand-made look just free-hand cut the letters). Applique the letters onto the front piece of linen (I hand appliqued these with a blanket stitch but you can use a sewing machine), and embellish with a running stitch around the letters. Put the back and front of the heart together (right sides facing) and sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, trapping the hanging twine/ribbon at the top and leaving a 1 inch gap on one side. Cut off excess seam allowance with pinking shears, turn inside out,  stuff with filler, and blind stitch the opening closed. Easy peasy.

So Miss Gooey inside me satisfied, I thought that was enough Valentine's Day crafting for this year - until I found out that Amy from Nana Company and Kristyne from Pretty by Hand were running a Valentine's Day tag-a-long. They did this last Christmas and I found out about it too late to join in, so I couldn't not do it now! Here's a sneak peek of the fabric tags I am making for it - so cute.



Until next time then - when I shall be back with my finished valentine tags... In the meantime, I leave you with my pick of Valentine's Day inspiration from Pinterest. Have a great day!

1. Heart bunting pillow 2.  Valentine's Day pom pom flowers 3. Fabric tag 'Love' 4. Hugs & Kisses valentine banner 5. Felt valentine lollies 6. Hanging heart with buttons 7. Rice Krispie valentine lollipops 8. Floral design 9. Patchwork heart 10. Crochet heart garland 11. Valentine macarons 12. Valentine's wreath 13. Valentine's Day cupcakes