A Valentine for all my readers.

I have just finished this small picture. it's 8 inches square. Some of you might remember that I made the heart a while ago out of melted plastic. I stitched it onto a piece of orange fabric which I got at the Scrapstore. 

A friend gave me a plastic child's toy, like a construction kit. I cut the pieces into small crumbs, put them between two sheets of baking paper and ironed them till they fused together. Then cut out the heart shape.

I have some bits left over which will get used on another project.

I used matching cotton to stitch the heart onto the fabric. I pulled it tight over the canvas, bought for 50p from Poundland, pinning it down at the back, then laced it tight with some cord, tucking the corners in and securing with orange cotton.

I gave the heart two coats of clear nail varnish, and around the edge I couched on two rows of black wool to give it a more defined outline.

On the back I hid all the mess with a piece of orange felt and neatly stitched it on, then added the two rings.

I was going to use the heart as the centre piece for a bigger artwork, but decided that it would look nice by itself. It looks proper cute, I love it.

Re using plastic when it was no longer wanted.   ilona