How about a wire wrapped felted Valentine's heart? Easy and fast. What else would you want?
This is what you'll need for this project:
- wire (I used a 0.7 mm gauge)
- pliers to cut the wire
- flat nosed pliers to help you shape the wire
- a tiny little bit of red carded wool
- needle felting needles
- needle felting foam pad
Step one: Shape the heart (see diagram), starting by leaving a long end at the top where later on you will make a loop, and ending with the center heart. This is a free-style exercise! Cut with pliers and correct the shape where needed by bending here and there, using the flat nosed pliers. Make a loop at the top for hanging.
Step two: Needle felt the heart.
First, on your foam pad start needle felting a bit of wool (slightly bigger than the heart), flipping it over once. I typically use a medium sized needle to start with. Next position your wire wrapped heart on top and fold the wool over the wire while punching with your needle. This shouldn't be too precise - it's actually even nicer when the wire shows. Make sure to flip over your piece a couple of times to avoid your project gets stuck to the foam pad. Also be careful not to hit the wire, as this might cause the needle to break. Switch to smaller sized needles (fine, ultra-fine) as you move on. Continue to punch until you're satisfied with the result. You can add wool if needed or pull out some if there's too much. You can't go wrong with this project!
Some alternatives to needle felting the center part:
If you don't know how to needle felt, you could cover the heart with small strips of paper instead (this is something I came up with as I was writing - newspaper strips would work well for that). You could also wire wrap a piece of colored glass or use a colorful bead... Just use your imagination and whatever you have available!
And that's all there is to it! Easy, not?
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