Valentine's Day Heart Banner

It's February 1st... time for more Valentine heart decorations!  This week we added a little more pink to the mantel with hearts made from yarn.  We made these hearts last year here (after seeing them in Family Fun magazine), but since we're in a new house I thought we'd make a few more and string them across the mantel.

To start, we cut several one foot pieces of yarn...

After the yarn was cut, I mixed one cup of water and a 1/2 cup of cornstarch until the powder was dissolved, then heated the mixture over the stove until it became glue-like.  I let the mixture cool, then scooped it in a bowl.... then began to form hearts!

Next, I placed a heart shaped cookie-cutter on the shiny side of parchment paper, dipped a piece of yarn in the glue mixture, then removed any excess glue from the yarn.  I put the yarn inside the cookie cutter and pushed the yarn toward the edges to form a heart outline.

We used anywhere from five to ten pieces of string per heart.  Once the hearts were formed, we removed the cookie cutter and let the hearts air-dry overnight.  For complete, detailed directions visit Family Fun magazine for instructions.

By the morning, the hearts were hard and ready to be made into a banner.   I cut a piece of yarn that was long enough to string across the width of the mantel above the fireplace, then I weaved the yarn through the hearts to make a banner....

After adding a few hearts, I strung the banner across the fireplace and discreetly taped the yarn to the top of the mantel to keep it in place.....

And, here's a wide view of the fireplace, part of the entry way (and new Valentine's Day banner)!

The heart banner is a fun project, especially with the kids!