Sculpting these gorgeous heart squishies and embellishments is so easy and a great craft for kids and adults alike. All you need is a bundle of wool fibres and a heart-shaped cookie cutter, or one of our heart garland kits (see shop). As Valentine's is coming up, Katie and I thought we would show you two different ways to use your hearts to make pretty, personalised gifts.
HEART CARD
This card is ever-so easy to make, so grab a cuppa, your wool, a felting needle and cookie cutter. If you don't have one of our kits, or have never tried needle-felting before, this is a great project to start with and a good one to do with kids as the cutter protects little fingers (do supervise though as the needle is very sharp!).
You will also need:
Scissors
A sponge to work on
Some white card
A pen
STEP 1
Take a clean sponge and place your cookie cutter on top. Scrunch up some of your wool fibres and stuff them into the cutter. Then, simply stab the fibres evenly all over to start flat felting them. Turn the cutter, peeling the wool off the sponge but keeping it inside, felt the other side of the heart. Keep stabbing and turning until you feel as if the fibres have knitted together. Take it out of the cutter and neaten up the edges by working carefully around the shape with the tip of your needle. You only need one nice side for this project! Feel free to trim off any fluffy edges.
STEP 2
Cut and fold a square card to suit the size of your heart or use a blank card. To make the ribbon, cut a strip of thin card 12mm wide. Trim a small V into one end. Place it at an angle across your heart and fold one edge back. Turn it over and fold it back again making a zig zag. This should now wrap around one edge of your heart. Repeat to make a fold on the other side so that the ribbon sits neatly across the heart. Trim the other end and add a V shape to match the first.
STEP 3
Write your message on the strip and then stick it onto the heart using a hot glue gun or double-sided sticky tape. Mount the finished design onto your card in the same way.
PERSONALISED SQUISHY HEART TAG
A really sweet and simple gift idea, this cute heart tag can be clipped onto key rings, door handles, school bags, whatever you like!
You will also need:
Some yarn
A bead (wooden ones look pretty but any will do)
A large embroidery needle
STEP 1
This time, use a much larger bundle of wool fibres. Really stuff as much as you can into the cutter even if it's spilling out. Stab for longer on each side before turning and work with your needle around the inside edge of the cutter to felt the sides too. Take it out and spend time rounding off and neatening up the sides of the shape.
STEP 2
Cut some pieces of yarn and use them to write a name or create a design onto the heart. Stab into the yarn and you will see that it quickly felts to the surface. It's fun and, if you make a mistake, just pull it off. It's as easy as that!
STEP 3 - MAKE THE TASSEL
Cut some lengths of yarn at approximately 25cm long. You need around 15 lengths. Fold them in half (at this point, if you want a chunkier tassel just add some more lengths). Slip a 15cm length of yarn through the loop. Cut a 35cm length of yarn to match the tassel colour.
STEP 4
Line one end of your 35cm-length up with the bottom edge of your tassel (just roughly). Then, holding it in place with your thumb, start to wrap it around the top of your tassel loop. Make sure you trap the piece you are holding under the wraps so that it doesn't unravel. Work your way down a little way, keeping tension even, then tie the ends together just below the wrapped section. Trim the bottom of your tassel with sharp scissors.
STEP 5
Thread the ends of the short loop through your embroidery needle and thread on a bead (or two, or three). Then push your needle through the heart from top to bottom. This is the fiddly bit, you can squish the heart to get it through and re-shape it later, don't worry. If you can't quite grip the needle, pop a rubber glove on your hand - that works a treat! Leave a loop at the top, and then wrap your needle around the loop once and push the needle back down through the heart. A knot will form just inside the top of the heart. When you have pulled the needle out at the bottom, tie the two ends tightly together.
OTHER IDEAS:
Felt hearts directly onto woollen gloves, hats, scarves or make elbow patches on a favourite jumper.
Make a little heart brooch by felting a large safety pin to the back.
Make two hearts and put some dried lavender in the centre before felting the two together to make a drawer fragrance.
Felt a flat heart and then rinse a small round bar of soap under the tap and place the heart on top. Rub the fibres so that it bonds to the soap and let it dry. Added exfoliation!
If you love this technique, and fancy having a go, our needle-felted garland kits come in two colour ways - bright and pastel. The garlands are perfect for prettifying a bedroom or decorating a tree branch at Easter.
Thanks for reading. We hope you stay warm and happy. Winter is almost over!
Katie & Rach x
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