Have a Heart on Advent 1st

Let's kick December off (well, almost) with one of the very first designs I made for this blog: The Countdown Heart from 2011, from the original Advent Calendar format, where I posted a new heart every single day in December (all of them woven hearts, as these are a traditional and very old Danish Christmas decoration). I was on maternity leave and had more time for blogging back then!
You can read a bit about weaving hearts here. I also made a simple one page tutorial.

Here's the original post from 2011, with the design to download as well, of course. 

But I wanted to post an origami heart as well, and I found that these (seen on the dark background in the photos), originally made for Valentine's in 2017, are great for Christmas as well. They can be used as gift tags, mini Christmas cards or made into a really cool garland (see photo - they have a natural slit on one side, that you use for the ribbon) - and if you punch a hole for a bit of string, you could decorate your tree with them. 

They are super easy to make, and a fun origami design - note: made not from a square paper, but from a rectangular one. Which is why I did a whole series of measured papers, ready to cut and fold, in a lot of funky red / pink / coral patterns. 

You will find the original post here, with free tutorial + pattern paper to download. 

This is what the Countdown Heart looks like (below), before you weave it - and if you have never woven a Christmas heart before, now would be the perfect time to start!

You will find loads of more or less crazy heart designs, and some nice ones too, on my list here, especially from 2011.

 

You should definitely heart someone

Tomorrow it's Valentine's Day, and I think we should absolutely spread some love around.

The world needs it.

Last year I showed you how to make Japanese folding letters for Valentine, menko and tato, and made you a hidden heart origami letter. This year I thought these might be fun....

They take five minutes to fold, and are made from a regular A4 sheet, so you don't even need to worry about square origami paper! I made you a PDF with a lot of red/pink patterns, and scaled the A4 dimensions a bit, to work around those unprinted edges all printed sheets must have. Just grab your scissors and cut away that edge.

Here's a tutorial: A4 origami hearts       And here's a PDF of 12 pretty designs to use, if you like

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I have made a Flickr folder with the 12 design sheets, feel free to download: it's right HERE

Write a nice message to someone you think needs a bit of love, and fold it like this. Or use them for parties, wedding invitations or Christmas ornaments. I made a whole bundle, as you can see, and they ended up as a garland. They are actually very well suited for garlands, the construction has a natural  slit to pull the string through, you'll see for yourself when you try.

Wanna see my garland? 

A hidden heart origami letter

The other day I taught you how to fold traditional Japanese menko and tato envelopes. And if you didn't quite get around to it the other day, here's the chance. And I even designed this very romantic version, where you unfold and discover a hidden heart. 

The rest is up to you!

Download the special Valentines / Galentines / Palentines heart-letter origami paper here, in both passionate red and and a very girly and delicate pink. Print on both sides of the paper for this design, and start folding with the heart pattern facing you. 

 

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Red front  /  Red back  /  Pink front  /  Pink back

Learn how to fold the menko - video on YouTube here (and it's very easy, I promise.)

I just couldn't resist it

I promise this will be the last reference to Yayoi Kusama for a veeeery long time. But it's been ages since I made a woven heart for this blog.... So when this image popped into my mind, I had a hard time letting it go. I really tried, cause I think it's a bit silly. And then I thought what the heck, and made it anyway. Silly is fine, actually (check my full list - I have made some very silly ones!)

It's the Tribute to Yayoi Pumpkin Christmas heart! Yay!
And it even comes in seasonal red/white as well.

So why don't you download yourself a dotty heart, and have some fun with that.

Click here for the yellow Yayoi heart  /  and here for the red Yayoi heart

Having a hard time weaving paper hearts? Use my very simple tutorial, or try to find a video, I am sure there are countless.

No Christmas without woven hearts!

Not on this blog, anyway. And since I have done so many of the traditional ones, especially back in 2011 (links here, at the bottom of the page), I thought you might like these. 

Just like the little project the other day, these are an alternative thing you can do with the Fröbel Star strips, and I think the older kids will like them too. You could also do them with ribbon (that needs to be a bit stiff and coarse), felt, plastic or leather like fabric. These here below, are made with four 15 x 50 mm. paper strips, folded in half, exactly as you need for a star.

If you can weave a Fröbel Star, these are super easy (much easier than stars) - but really, they are, even if you can't.

I have made a tutorial, and you can find it right here.

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page 1  /  page 2  /  page 3 

Apologies for the murky images in the tutorial, but they were taken in lamplight, and that is always a tricky situation - but I assure you, they are cute and easy to make, and I hope you like them.
Bye for now.

November nagging

We have this arrangement in my household - we live two places; in our flat in Copenhagen from October to April-May, and all summer we live in our little cottage - kolonihavehus - half an hours drive north of Copenhagen. It's really very clever. We live in the middle of the city, which I have done all my life, and still get to have a garden with birds, flowers, fresh tomatoes, wonderful neighbours and only a ten minute bike ride from the beach. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The only thing is, that in September, when we move back to the city again (and since we usually have someone else living in our flat during summer, it is a quite literal move, with clothes, personal stuff, work things, books, toys - SO many things. Think a car stuffed to the brim - at least twice. Something like that.), well, when we move back, we always get into our project mode. Sigh. We start all kinds of optimistic things in the flat - and then we kinda loose pace. And then comes November. And I feel like welcoming the wretched, depressing dark season with a home that is at least in some kind of working order. But we usually have cans of paint, toolboxes and bits of wood lying about, waiting for us to finish whatever.

Last year it looked like this in November, since we moved our bookshelves (many, heavy and very full) to another room. The stacks of books were everywhere for weeks and weeks, and as you can see, I started christmas decorating in the middle of chaos. Eskild is helping me, I can see, and he is about to hang some Hama hearts!

Now, a year has gone by and the bookshelves are in place - but this year it is something else. There is always something, and we are never done by December 1st. Not that you have to be, particularly, but that date is a kind of deadline for me, since Christmas is just too much, if you have to deal with the home improvements as well. Okay, this is boring - let's talk about something else.

My son is five now, and has become a very passionate producer of everything Hama. In fact, at the moment he gets up early weekend mornings and starts making perleplader, before breakfast even, and with the rest of us fast asleep. Here he is, working hard, Sunday morning.... He will wake me when he needs the iron!

He is super productive, and I think it is so funny, because I just recently discovered - quite by chance, through a random back link - that the post about Hama hearts I hint at above, is the most visited post I have ever written on this blog! Almost two thousand visits up till now, which is a lot for this blog. And I have studied the statistics, and it seems to just have a steady stream of visitors. How about that. Hope some of the Hama fans visiting here, also check out some of the other Christmas projects I have designed myself!

But let me show you the work of the next Hama happy generation in this household. Cool, huh?

The only useful thing I did today....

Was this hobbit sized garland to go with the hearts.

And here my son and his friend Edith are going at it with the punching thingies.
They also consumed large amounts of æbleskiver, sugar and jam.

Itty Bitty hearts

No time for blogging today at all - but I did have time to make these. They are a surprise for my son - he is four years old, and has his first little christmas tree in his room. It is just a tiny plastic one, and once in a while - not every day - I surprise him with a handful of small things to put on it, all sorts of mini-ornaments.

He is really into this (like mother, like son), and the other day I sort of promised him some proper paper hearts. And you can have them too! 

Perhaps you have a mini-tree as well? Perhaps you are a hobbit?

Anyway, get them here....

 

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And, yes - they are rather small, as you can see....
I know, this is nothing, some people can make these the size of a peanut.

But this is just about the correct size for a hobbit tree.
Or my son's tree, which I might show you one of these days. It's gonna be fabulous.

Heart for my baby

Our son is born in Ethiopia, and was adopted by us, when he was just 11 months old.
That in itself is a fairytale of sorts, that deserves to be told in another time and place -
but he is the sunshine of my life.

And of course he deserves his very own christmas heart.

You can have it too, right here.

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Just a couple of old fashioned hearts

If you are all as busy as I am today. I suggest we keep the workload to a minimum.
Some people have asked me, if I could post some more hearts with 'unusual' fringes, and here are
two of my favourite varieties: With just a few angles to the fringes, you end up with these fantastic
star-like patterns. And I thougt they went well with just some polka dots and plain color.
Come and get them here!

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Do you like the stackable wooden candlesticks? My clever friends from Helgo made those.

Gingerbread heart

Maybe you have been thinking about baking cookies, just like me.
And maybe you just haven't gotten around to it yet. Just like me.
Despair not - here is a quick alternative:

The gingerbread christmas cookie heart. It's fresh from the oven right here.

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Twirly Girly Hearts

These too are really easy to make - but you'll need some quick drying glue and a steady hand to glue
them onto the string. I have made the template with six hearts in all, that is three per string, but print
a bundle and make them with four or five folded hearts per string, that would look even greater.

This design too has a front (page one) and a back (page two) just like the trees the other day.
Do like this: Set your printer to print only page one, and make your number of prints. Turn them
over in the printer tray, and repeat - this time printing only page two. Have fun!

These twirly little dears can be downloaded here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads: please go here for the front print - 
and here for the back side print (it's a print-on-both-sides design)

The granny doily heart

My maternal grandmother was very, very fond of doilies. They adorned every surface of her house -
in all the nice places, where such things as candlesticks and porcelain figurines were on display.
She would simply not place a decorative object anywhere, and not rest it on a doily of appropriate
size. They were also in between every one of the fine plates, the ones that came out for family visits.

My sister and I have inherited most of them, and I have to admit that they are in some box somewhere,
for two reasons: one is, that I have no idea what to do with them, because (and here is reason number
two), I also have such veneration for them - as she made most every one of them herself. With a tiny crochet hook, in the thinnest silky white yarn. And then they were starched with sugar and pressed flat
later on - and already in our childhood, her eyesight was no longer strong enough for these delicacies,
so she took to crocheting towels and napkins and acrylic ponchos in mad colors, for my sister and I.
She lived to be 97, and the last years she so missed her TV and her handywork, since the eyes and
ears couldn't keep up.

When I think of doilies, I think of her, managing a farm household, with pigs, chickens, a husband
and three children and - still - making time to make something like that.
And have special tableware.

When I was younger, I didn't quite have the appreciation for such things, but now I use those little
towels all the time. I'll probably even get around to using the doilies as well, some day.
I wonder what happned to the ponchos?

I made a grandmother heart for you today. Get it here.

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However, I did have a whole lot of paper doilies lying around, and these I don't mind cutting up!
They too make pretty flakes, no?

Two more florals

Today I give you the last of my little floral series, simple hearts with prints that remind me of wallpaper
in some remote, edwardian summer house of my imagination.
Click and pick your flowers here and here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads: please go here for all the floral hearts (A) + (B) + (C)

A piece of work - the heart garland

I am going to leave you with a bit of work for the weekend - the heart garland!

You have to do quite a bit of cutting here, but I give you al full alphabet, and trust that it will keep
you occupied tomorrow as well - and then I'll be posting a new project again on sunday.

You simply cut the letters, fold them and glue them carefully onto any kind of nice looking string or
twine, for example something like this.

The rest is up to you. A nice little garland for the door, saying 'Welcome' or 'F*** off' - or a very
loooong one for the tree or the mantlepiece with the full lyrics of 'Come All Ye Faithful'. Or...?

Download the fabulous garland here!

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page 1  /  page 2  /  page 3  /  page 4  

Flowers

These are a few of my geraniums - I have 19 different ones, wich is a little mad, and rather a lot
of work sometimes - but when they all bloom, as they do most of the summer, in all these intense
red and pink hues, it is worth it, of course.
I wanted to make a little series of flower hearts, with old fashioned 'grannys pajamas'-like
floral prints on them. I like old fashioned, slightly corny flowers, like geraniums and dahlias.

Here is the first floral heart - download right here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads: please go here for all the floral hearts (A) + (B) + (C)

Hama hearts

So okay, we need a little break from all this paper-scissors-glue-stuff. We need plastic! And no blogging about holiday crafting i Denmark without at least one post about Hama Beads. (but ok, we already covered snowflakes.... here!) Hama Beads are a part of growing up in Denmark.

I dare you to find one Dane between the ages of 5 and 75 that has not:

1. made at least a heart, a star, a kitty cat, a roaring dinosaur or
   a lovely multicolor necklace for an adoring family member. 
2. been presented, gift wise, with at least one of the above.

To me, the smell of melting plastic, is a happy one.

Making 'perleplader' has always been a great babysitting ploy with the slightly larger kids, and the work with selecting the colors, getting the beads organized on the tiny pegs, carrying the finished design, carefully, to the ironing board (manned by the Responsible Adult) are all skills that require concentration and focus, and are very developing for a five-year old. Don't underestimate the power of the Hama Bead.

And you can make lovely 'woven' hearts with the heart shaped thingy! I made these, the other day....

For the last couple of years they have had an absolute heyday (they are a danish invention, and date back from 1971, read here) as a medium for street artists and kitchy jewellery designers. Hama themselves have been busy in the development unit, and today all kinds of kits, beads in various sizes, tools and whatnot, are available. A few years ago, the beads and the pegboards were all you had, and I'm an old skool kind of Hama-girl: I stick to my basic shapes, and my larger 'freestyle' pegboard, for doing letters and such.

I like making hearts, stars, snowflakes, letters. What do you like? You can iron them, string them on wire and make cute things, or make 3D objects. Or you could be inspired by the Masai to make lots of multi-string necklaces in brilliant reds, blues, whites, yellows (a pet Hama-idea - haven't gotten around to it yet, though)

Hope this will inspire you. Happy beading to you all.

Here is a link to the authorised webshop - with worldwide shipping: www.hamabeads.com

Spring 2015 note: this is crazy! Almost four thousand people, and counting, have checked out this particular blog post. Fun that you found your way to it! We still love playing with Hama here in my house, and here are some other posts tagged 'hama beads', maybe you'll enjoy those as well.

Tweet tweet

 ........A nice little birdy is all I am capable of today. Download here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads: please go here  and here for the birdies.

Party Hearty

I bet there are lots of you out there, that is going to some kind of christmas party today. I know I am.

I am trying to get enthusiastic about it. It has been a very exhausting week, and my dream scenario for
this saturday evening would be lying on the sofa, watching 'the Wire' and eating chocolate - wearing something shapeless and wooly.

As opposed to eating the Big Danish Christmas Party Buffet, wearing something tight with heels.
In fact one ought to wear a sweatsuit to these things, because you eat so much food (and yes, some
of it is really delicious. I am mainly a pickled herring and schnapps girl, myself. How about you?)
and you drink too much, making the heels a veritable staggering danger.

But: I will be a trooper and give it my very, very best.
After a couple of herrings (with onion and sour cream, mmmm) and a few cold ones, I will probably
feel altogether more at ease.

And I do have a very comfortable pair of quite glam patent leater flats......
And my sequin butterfly. Done.

I have made a disco heart for all those of you who are trying to get in the mood, like myself.
Party on down right here.

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Mirrorball borrowed from http://trove.org.uk

Smells like christmas spirit

Yesterday was such a nice day, and I ended it with a fun and totally improvised pizza dinner with
a whole bunch of great people - in all ages! The older kids made hearts in abundance, and the
sweet lady of the house took a particular fancy to my use of Wunderbaums - so todays heart is a
special edition: The new Wunderbaum Hearts - download them here.

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The Wunderbaum is a crazy, kitschy thing, to most of us - but it has an adorable sort of 'generic tree'-
outline, and I frequently buy them as silly gifts.

Read more about this little house plant here...