Jeweled Valentine Heart

It finally time to put up the Valentine knick knacks. I don’t have many in the Valentine category, but the few I have are favorites.  When I made my jeweled Christmas tree a few years ago, my zeal for gathering sparkly gems left me with a pile if unused splendor. I missed my Christmas tree so much from January through November, I came up with this Valentine idea- got out the glue gun and went to town.
The cheapest way to undertake a project like this is to first scour the jewelry drawer at your grandma, mom and your own house. Then sift through the bargain (broken, unmatched) box at your local thrift and antique store, or even shop for bags of costume jewelry on ebay.

The frame is from Hobby Lobby or your local thrift store, antique shop or your attic- the gaudier the better. I went with a fairly inexpensive hot pink satin for the background. The fabric is glued to the front of a piece of masonite (a thin piece of plywood would work too), then wrapped around and glued to the back of the wood as well- so- under the gems and then behind, no sagging allowed. Once the fabric is glued into place, start arranging the gems on the ready surface.
Spent plenty of time arranging the gems so that the shape and colors all flowed nicely.
Arrange the larger pieces first, use the shape of the jewels to create rounded or pointy corners. Fill in around the big pieces with tiny gems for a nice uniform arrangement.

I used pliers frequently- snapping off earring posts, the backs of brooches, and chopping up necklaces and bracelets to get the right sizes of jewelry to include. All of the jewels are just hot glued in place. Keep the pliers handy so you don’t burn your fingers or overdo it on the amount of glue. Secure the heart into it’s frame with tiny nails tapped carefully into the back of the frame.

Enjoy the Valentine sparkle!