Easy DIY Valentine's Banner

We're having a party on Friday, and Katie loves to decide what we do as far as decorations.  Honestly, I don't mind at all, because they usually end up staying up in our house for awhile after, and it's nice to add a bit of extra cheer to these winter months.

This DIY is really easy, but does involve a little bit of elbow grease.  You'll need the following things:

1.  Old book (I used an out-of-date encyclopedia that I rescued from a box destined for the trash by a local store).  It should be a little bit thicker to make cutting into it easier, and to ensure that you don't cut into the surface below it.  Magazine's might be a nice colorful alternative, but be sure to protect whatever surface you're cutting on.

2.  Heart Shape (or any other shape you feel like cutting).

3.  Exacto knife, box cutter, really sharp pocket knife etc.

4.  Sewing machine, and thread

Open your book up, and trace your shape on the front page.  Then, with your knife of choice, start carving the shape out of the book.  Just keep retracing the shape over and over and over until you have a stack of shapes that you deem "enough."  I ended up getting about 20 shapes for each carving (pushing pretty hard against the pages), and then opening the book to wherever my last shape had ended and repeating the process. 

Carved hearts, opened book, and kept carving.

Once you have a stack of shapes, set your sewing machine to a straight stitch, and make the stitch length as long as possible (whatever your basting stitch length is).  Then, just push your pedal down, and insert the shapes one at a time as you sew a straight line. 

You can do this with regular paper, and do not need to carve up a book, but the encyclopedia gives it some text on each shape, and even the occasional picture.  I was sad when I opened it to find that I'd missed this guy's face:

Don't his eyes just beg you to be his Valentine?

 And that's all!  You can feel pleased that it's so cheap to make, and, if you use the book method, you can feel like it's a craft that's just a teeny-tiny bit hard-core...you know, because you're carving it up with a knife.

Happy Valentine's Day!