Valentine Spool Art DIY

I love making crafts for Valentine’s Day!

Making this sweet Valentine Spool Art has lots of steps involved, but really isn’t difficult. Let me show you how I made this little guy!

Supplies:

• Small wooden spool
• Chalk paint (in dark grey and medium blue)
• Paint brush
• Laura Kelly’s “Love Ya” buttons from Buttons Galore 
• Wide tulle ribbon (in white)
• Small stick or twig (I used the end of a faux flower purchased at the craft store. I cut the flower stems to fit into a particular vase, and saved those bottom “stick” pieces. You never know when they’ll come in handy!)
• Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue
• Stickles Glitter Glue (in Diamond and Christmas Red)
• Scissors
• Sharpie brown marker
• Vintage image of your choice (I used image #257 from the Dover Romantic Vignettes CD-ROM and Book. You can also find many beautiful Valentine’s Day vintage images over at The Graphics Fairy.)
• Clear acrylic sealer (I used one with a matte finish, but glossy is also available.)
  
• Clear tape

Tutorial:

Step One: Print out your chosen vintage Valentine image onto cardstock and spray with a clear acrylic sealer on both sides. Let dry.

Step Two: Using Stickles glitter glue, color in certain areas of the vintage image. Glitter glue is fantastic, as it gives you the sparkle without the mess! I colored in the red heart, the wings, and the boots. Let dry.

Step Three: Using the edge of the brown Sharpie marker, gently go over the edge of your cut-out vintage image. This gives it a tiny bit of a distressed look plus helps make the image stand out better.

Step Four: Paint the wooden spool in colors that will match or mimic the vintage image. I wanted to match the colors of the coat the little cupid angel fairy is wearing. First I painted one coat of a dark grey chalky finish paint . . . 

. . . and once dry, I ever-so-lightly brushed on some matching blue chalky finish paint. I used very little paint and built up the color slowly, always comparing it to the vintage image to try and get pretty close. Let dry.

Step Five: Cut two pieces of wide tulle ribbon – mine was from my vintage stash – and cross them like an X:

Step Six: Take the small stick – I used a leftover piece from a faux floral stem I had previously cut off . . .

. . . and place one end in the center of the X. Pull the tulle up around the stick and push it into the center opening of the spool.

By first putting the two pieces of tulle into an X shape, you help the tulle to naturally fan outward from the base of the spool.

Step Seven: Attach tiny red buttons onto a few spots of the tulle. Put a tiny dab of the clear tacky glue onto the back of each button, gently press it onto the tulle and hold it there for a few seconds. Slowly let go and if it stays in place, hooray! If the button drops, just try it again. (Ask me how I know!)

Step Eight: Attach a button to the center front of the spool. Keep the spool horizontal while this particular button dries, otherwise it might slip downward before it’s completely dry. (Again, ask me how I know!)

Step Nine: Position your vintage image so it stands “in” the tulle. Attach to the stick with clear tape on the back of the image. 

And that’s it!

You’ve just made your own Valentine spool art!

Here’s what the bottom half looks like:

 And here’s the finished piece:

I love how all of the small details help to make this little guy so sweet!

I hope you’ll try making one! It doesn’t have to be for a specific holiday either. Just pick a reason or a theme – or whatever vintage image strikes your fancy – and have fun!

Happy crafting!

~Laura

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