Kristen See how I made this tasteful, elegant, and affordable vintage-inspired Valentine’s garland that you can incorporate into your home decor year after year!
Hello there!
This music & vintage-inspired Valentine’s Day garland is so fun and relatively easy to make! My husband and I are both musicians so it was meaningful to incorporate this old vintage sheet music we had lying around for many years.
You can also use pages from books you have on hand – or head to the Dollar Tree and grab a book for $1.25 – tear out a few pages, and you’re ready to craft your garland hearts!
List of materials:
- wooden hearts* or cardboard cut out hearts
- *If you choose wooden hearts, make sure they have a pre-existing hole in the top like these so that you can string twine through the hole. If using cardboard hearts, you can simply poke a hole in the top of each heart using a sharp pencil.
- yarn
- vintage or printed sheet music
- twine
- hot glue gun & glue sticks
- modge podge
- paint brush
- scissors
Instructions:
How to make music note hearts:
- Using a pencil, position wooden heart on sheet music and trace. For each single heart you will need to trace two sheet music hearts – one for each side of your wooden/cardboard heart.
- Cut out all of the hearts.
- One at a time, squeeze modge podge onto one side of wooden or cardboard heart and spread evenly with a paintbrush.
- While modge podge is still wet, place sheet music heart directly on top of wooden/cardboard heart, press down and smooth over with fingers.
- Squeeze another layer of modge podge directly on top of the sheet music you have just glued down; spread evenly with a paintbrush.
- Set aside to let dry and move on to the next heart.
- When your sheet music hearts are dry to the touch, flip over and repeat process on opposite side of each wooden/cardboard heart.
- Once all of your hearts have sheet music secured onto each side and have dried completely, use a sharp pencil to poke through the sheet music and into the existing hole in your heart.
How to make yarn hearts:
- Cut a piece of yarn (I usually cut in increments of about 2 feet) and hot glue one end onto the wooden heart.
- Begin wrapping yarn around heart, securing with hot glue along the way. Be careful not to glue yarn directly over the hole in the heart – you will want to string twine through the hole when you are done.
- Once you reach the end, hot glue the end piece onto the heart.
- Cut a new piece of yarn and repeat the process.
Putting it all together:
- Unwind your desired length of twine.
- Before cutting, lay your strand of twine on a table or flat surface and position your hearts where you would like them to go (I usually position each of my hearts a few inches apart).
- Once you figure out your desired length, unroll twine several more inches to account for extra length needed to tie each heart onto the twine.
- Cut your piece of twine.
- Begin by tying a knot at one end of the twine – I typically double or triple up on the knot so that the heart does not slip off of the garland.
- Tie another knot a few inches away from the first knot – this is where the first heart will remain positioned.
- Use a small piece of masking or clear tape on opposite end of twine to help weave twine through the hole in the first heart. Slide twine through the heart until the heart stops at the knot you just created, then tie a knot on the opposite side to secure the heart.
- Repeat the process, alternating the yarn hearts with the music note hearts to make a pattern.
- Once the last heart has been secured, you are ready to hang your garland!
Styling Your Garland
This garland is versatile and can go anywhere! Use it as part of your Valentine’s Day table scape, drape it over a decorative bowl, hang it from your mantle or use it in your entryway! I chose to style the garland on my back entryway display so it’s there to greet our guests:
I hope this DIY tutorial was helpful to you – please feel free to head to my Instagram reels @maplehousebuffalo for a quick video on how I created the garland. Also as always – please feel free to email or comment with any questions. Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!
All my best,
Kristen
