Creative expression is how I best cope, so I’ve been digging into my stash of paint, crafts, fabric, brushes, pens, etc. I love a simple project where I can use what I have and quickly transform a few items into something beautiful.
Here’s what I used:
- Scrap wood (we used birch plywood) or pre-made wood shapes. We used five hearts for the garland.
- Heart pattern
- Sandpaper or sanding block
- Jute twine
- Drill
- Paint (we used off-white mixed with Saltwash & two blues)
- Paintbrushes
- Saltwash®
- Foam stickers (optional)
I started by tracing my heart pattern and cut each heart on the bandsaw. We cut out, sanded & finished several hearts, but used five for this project. We’ll save the others for gift baskets.
Mix paint with Saltwash® until desired thickness and apply to wood shape, covering front and sides. Let dry and apply to the back of each shape.
I like to apply the Saltwash® a bit thicker, so when you sand off the last layer, you have a distressed, layered look of colors. The base color can be whatever you want to show through after sanding.
Once the Saltwash® layer was dry, I applied a couple different blues and a vanilla color, roughly blending for variation in color.
Cover all heart tops, sides and backs with paint, drying in between until all hearts are covered and dry.
Sand hearts until you achieve your desired look.
Drill holes to accommodate the size of your jute twine. Wipe away any dust using a damp cloth.
I borrowed this idea from my favorite cousin who uses these stickers on painted jars and it also worked great on wood. Just make sure the surface is wiped free of dust.
A sponge brush worked well for dabbing paint onto the foam letters. Wipe away any unwanted paint.
You could do words on all the hearts, or none at all. Completely up to you!
Arrange your hearts in the order you’d like them and figure out the width and drop you want for your mantel. I found tying the jute twine and having the knot on the front helped keep the hearts forward-facing. Do this for each heart along one long string.
You can anchor using heavy objects (we did this on the left side with a heavy lantern) and/or use screw-in eye hooks toward the back side of the mantel (we did this for the right side).
These are so cute💙!!!