By Jessica Wilson
Have something small but lovely to give your valentine? Tuck it inside a wee paper heart, drop it into a jar full of love, and step back as your giftee goes gaga over it!
Materials
Small jar or clear container
Assorted paper scraps
Cotton balls
Small trinkets
Paperclips
Glue
Ribbon and/or string
Directions
Step 1: Gather your trinkets and determine the size(s) of your heart(s). To do this, take a sheet of paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Plop a trinket along the fold and trace half a heart around it with a generous allowance. The more bulky an item is, the more allowance you will need to fit inside the heart. You can trace all your hearts onto the same piece of paper or make each heart different from the last. If you only have one trinket, make that heart the largest and draw up enough smaller hearts to fill the jar (this is why you want a small jar).
Step 2: Once you have your first set of hearts, choose a backing paper. Trace your hearts onto the paper and cut them out. Use your paperclips to hold pages in place while you cut. This is a good way to use up some favorite vintage pages and old eye-candy catalogs you may have stashed away.
Step 3: Dab a thin line of glue along the outer edge of one heart shape, leaving a space that will allow you to stuff the heart with your trinket. Place another heart of the same size on top and anchor with a paperclip or small clothespin. Set aside to dry for about 30 minutes or so.
Step 4: Once your hearts are dry, fill each one with a small trinket or prize. Add a few more glue dots to close, and anchor it in place with a paperclip or clothespin.
Step 5: Continue making paper hearts until your jar is full. If you only have one FABULOUS trinket, say a beautiful Bakelite button, then use cotton balls to stuff your other, smaller hearts. You want the heart with the present inside it to stand out. Don’t make your hearts too pretty, otherwise your Valentine may not want to tear them open.
Step 6: Fill your jar, put the lid on it, and tie it up with a piece of pretty string or a ribbon. Finish it with a tag or a note with a rhyme like this:
Look carefully for
The heart that is true
Tucked inside you will find
A gift just for you
Variations:
Fill your hearts with paper fortunes or pieces from a small jigsaw puzzle. Add letters to the back of each heart so that they spell out a name or favorite word. Stick magnets inside the hearts to make them more useful. Fill them with cotton and dried herbs from your garden. Instead of paper, make a jar full of fabric hearts using your smallest vintage scraps. Make this a tradition to do with your friends to commemorate a great day: ask each visitor to make a heart that they sign and date, and get a large jar to store them in so you can revisit them good times! See? Endless possibilities. Have fun!
About the Author:
Jessica Wilson is most happily known as ‘jek in the box’ and spends most of her time crafting it up and taking pictures. She can often be found standing on benches over on Flickr and creating all sorts of kiddie crafts on her blog scrumdilly-do! She lives a life of scrumdillydilly and loves to share.
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