As an avid crafter and holiday decorator, I am constantly looking for ways to decorate my home in a crafty yet inexpensive way. I'm super excited to show you how to make Valentine Heart Art that has a surprising Dollar Store Supply.
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Just like I did with my my Paper Heart Banner, I love challenging myself to come up with fun crafty decorating ideas. That is where this project of Valentine Heart Art made from paper punches and a reverse canvas.
How to Make a Valentine Heart Art
First of all, you need to gather supplies. Like always, I try to find the least expensive places to buy things. I was super excited to find an 8x10 stretched canvas at the dollar store. I had most of the other supplies, but I have included links to similar supplies.
Supplies Needed
- stretched canvas (pack of 12)
- small flat head screw driver
- needle nose pliers
- wood stain
- disposable gloves
- heart punch
- red construction paper
- red glitter
- tacky glue
- hot glue gun
You guys... Dollar Tree has a pretty decent craft section. I was able to find an 8 x 10 canvas for guess how much? That's right, a dollar! Canvases like that cost $4-5 at the craft store, so I was pumped! When you're buying a canvas for this project, make sure it's one that has a wooden frame.
This project is a reverse canvas project. Artists use canvases for paintings and the canvas is wrapped around a wooden frame. For this project we are going to R E V E R S E that. We're going to remove the canvas and use the wooden frame to actually frame the canvas. That's kind of confusing, but stick with me because I will show what I mean.
To Remove the canvas from the wooden frame
Use a small screwdriver to pry the staples up on the back of the canvas. I laid the canvas on my desk top, held it down with one hand and pushed the screwdriver down underneath the staple. I wiggled it back and forth until I was able to get the staple lifted up a little bit.
Once the staple is lifted up, then you can pull it out with needle nose pliers. Maneuver the pliers and the staple gently so it doesn't break off. I like to close the pliers around the staple near wear it's sticking out of the canvas, then gently roll it to the side while lifting. It keeps the staple from breaking.
You then can lift the wooden frame from the canvas. Set the canvas aside to work on later.
You can paint the wooden frame, or stain it. I chose to stain mine. I brush on the stain with a sponge brush, then wipe it off with a rag. For the longest time, I stained wood bare handed and always had sticky hands that doesn't come off with soap and water. I finally got smart and started wearing gloves and it made all of the difference.
Once the frame was stained, I set it aside to dry and worked on the heart and canvas part. BTW- I like to protect my work surface by covering it with waxed paper. That way when I'm done with the project, I can just throw the waxed paper away.
How to make Punched Heart Art
I punched a bunch of red hearts from red construction paper. There are 26 to be exact. With the last one, I folding it in half to give it some dimension.
I covered the folded heart with tacky glue and then with fine red glitter and let it dry.
I put a dollop of Tacky Glue underneath each of the paper hearts to hold them in place.
I placed the folded glitter heart on top of one of the other hearts, and glued it down with Tacky Glue.
I laid the wooden frame on top of the canvas and traced around it with a pencil. I used regular scissors to cut along the inside of the pencil line.
I attached the canvas back to the stained frame with hot glue. I laid the frame down on my craft table. Then I dry fit the canvas to the frame. Once I made sure it fit the way I liked (like all of the hearts were facing the same way) I lifted up the corners one at a time, and put some globs of hot glue.
And that is how easy it is to make a cute piece of art for Valentine's Day. Now the fun part, the styling!
I placed the Valentine Heart Art on the cupboard in my living room. It's a great place that I love to style for all of the holidays, seasons, parties, etc.
With just a little bit of time and and even smaller bit of money (it's $1), you can make Valentine Heart Art Reverse Canvas with Heart Punches.
This project is a part of the Creative Crafts Last Minute Valentine Projects. Click on the image to see all of the other fantastic projects and a Rafflecopter giveaway
