Valentine’s Day Crafts: Burlap Frame Craft

I am project by project completing my handmade Valentine’s mantle. Last week I shared my easy trees to go on either end of the mantle. We usually have a large iron artwork above the fireplace but I had a vision of red, white, and pink and wanted artwork to match. I wanted the mantle to have a shabby chic feel to it and so knew I wanted to incorporate as well. This easy Valentine’s Day craft captured just the right feel to anchor the mantle.

I made a friend of mine a housewarming gift in a jar and put the sentiment on the outside of the jar “House full of Love” with the picture of a house representing the word and a heart representing the word love. When I was formulating the idea for the art for the mantle, I thought how perfect that same phrase would be for it. For our family, even though my hubby and I celebrate Valentine’s Day as a couple, the day of love is for all of us and House Full Of Love captured it perfectly. I found a beautiful stark white 16×20 frame that I got at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and knew I was going to pair it with the more rustic burlap. I thought red would be the perfect color to contrast with the burlap and white for this Valentine’s Day craft.

To Get Your Craft On You Will Need:

A frame (can be in any size)

Burlap at least the size of your frame (can also be done with fabric or scrapbook paper

Glue & Glue Gun

Glue Dots

Vinyl & Silhouette (This can also be done with a stamp and stayzon ink as I did with my DIY tree skirt)

Get Your Craft On By:

1. Take the backing off the frame and use it to measure out on your fabric or paper as it’s laid flat. You can do this with a pen or just cut around the backing. I cut it slightly smaller than the back of the frame so it would fit inside the frame.

2. I knew my design would have 3 lines so I allowed half an inch at the top and bottom of the frame and half an inch in between each line which totalled 2.5 inches. That left 13.5 inches of space to make my desgins so I cut each line at 4.5 inches. You can use this method to know how big to make your design whether you use ink or vinyl. I then created the photos for my design in Silhouette and cut the vinyl out.

3.  I pulled up the vinyl designs and began spacing them half an inch from the top of the frame with half an inch in between. I tried to center the designs horizontally as well. The vinyl stuck well to the burlap but it was tough smoothing the bubbles out and some actually kept coming back. If you use stamps here is where you would begin stamping your design and spacing according to the measurements you did for your frame.

4. After the design was laid out, I liked the way it looked but it seemed to be missing something so I added a line of white iradescent trim on either side of the design. I used hot glue to attach it to the burlap. Because the burlap stretches especially when laid out in the frame I didn’t get it quite straight so if you add embellishments make sure your paper or fabric is secure.

5. At first I put the burlap in the frame unsecured as if it was a photo and closed up the frame, but because the burlap is so thin it shifted in the frame and hunk crooked. I then took it back out and added removable glue dots to each corner of the frame and some in the middle to hold the burlap in place. This worked much better and the design stayed secure. As I was putting the design in the frame I did have to trim the burlap a little more but this is an easy correction to make.

This Valentine’s Day craft was easy but it is important to measure correctly. I splurged a little on the frame because I wanted a nice one for above the mantle, but the burlap, glue vinyl. and trim were extremely affordable. I love the way the burlap and the fancy-ish (Is that a word?) frame look together and the way House Full of Love reflects our family. The frame looks great with my trees and I’m getting excited about the way the mantle is coming together but I stll have some more shopping and projects to do! Having so much fun with all the red and pink.What Valentine’s Day crafts are you working on? I love hearing new ideas!