DIY triangle garland

after making these awesome heart strands on-a-whim valentine craft, i decided i wanted to do something to jazz up cai's first birthday party.

i made nia a really fun + beautiful ribbon garland for her 2nd birthday party, which now hangs over her bed, but wanted something a little less feminine...not that cai can't handle it. he loves butterfly wings and has been known to wear crowns

... and maybe bring into his room decor once the party was over. and i didn't want to do the ribbons again but instead wanted something new and original.

well, admittedly, not so original, as i was pretty seriously inspired by emily hendersons triangle baby shower. how gorgeous is that and what a clever theme! i obviously didn't take the triangles as seriously and cai's party was far less festive and beautiful, but hey, i have to craft solo, a midsts an elmo spaghettios clad dinning table, with toddler safe scissors.

i basically chose a few different shades of blues + green paper, cut them into different sized triangles and sewed them together in the same way i did the hearts.

they all kind of hung out, scotch taped to the wall for a few weeks. but i really loved how they looked on a blank wall. it reminded me of a variation of a fine little day wallpaper or something. 

turns out, the morning of the party was kinda crazy and i forgot about them until about 20 minutes before company was due to arrive. oops! so my fabulous friend caroline helped string them up behind the bar station, where they looked pretty cute and helped hide the awkward behind the stairs space. 

in hind sight, i would have made less, but longer strands, as they were constantly getting tangled and are now draped over a chair, in the basement, in a big, awkward single strand. "E" for effort, no?

valentine paper hearts craft that made my heart melt

i know, i know, i'm about a month late posting a gorgeous, fun, easy and oh so fabulous valentine craft. better late than never though, right?

february is the time of year my cabin fever peaks and my craft ideas are dwindling, but i was determined to find something sweet and easy enough for a eager three year old crafter to be entertained. these paper hearts were the perfect valentine's day craft


you'll need:

- at least 10 sheets of paper
- scissors (or "snizzors" as we call them :)
- needle + thread
- tape

as i'm writing 'what you'll need' i'm realizing you could do a zillion variations of this. we used old maps, paper bags, scrap paper, envelopes and origami paper to make our hearts, but you could all different shades of colors, or do ombre (i might totally try that next!), or book paper sheets, etc. your possibilities are endless!

we used my favorite metallic thread to string them together, although you don't notice the shimmer as much as i was hoping, but you could use clear fishing wire to have them look like the hearts are floating in the air or a colored thread depending on the look you're going for.

and you could also mix it up by using fun washi tape instead of clear scotch tape.

step 1: cut out all of your hearts. we did a bunch of different sizes, but i think it could look really beautiful to have them the same size too.





step 2: i laid all of our hearts in rows as i wanted them to be strung up.






step 3: i single threaded my needle, but put a knot at the end of the string so your hearts don't fall off. i purposefully left a little string on the end of mine too because I'm never sure what i might morph them into in the future. i also had grand ideas of making little tails for each strand, but clearly ran out of time/effort. string your ideal rows of hearts and space them however you want. some of the hearts looked cute almost on top of one another.

step 4: be sure not to get them tangled.



step 5: have your oh-so-fabulous husband help tape them to the very high ceiling in the exact spot where you want them to cascade down and try not to be so picky down to the centimeter where you want them to be

step 6: keep them up for weeks to admire + enjoy your craftiness. we loved our valentine craft so much we kept the hearts up weeks later for cai's christening and they are still up. i'm not completely sure i ever want to take them down.