Art With Mollie: Valentine Button Heart

Yesterday, Mollie and I made what I think is my favorite craft project we've done so far. It was inspired by this Valentine's card I saw on Pinterest.

First we got out my huge button collection and Mollie helped me fill a bowl with red, pink, and white buttons.

 Then I made a heart template and traced it onto some scrapbook paper.

 Next we each took a glue stick and started filling in the heart with glue, and then filling it in with buttons. Luckily Mollie totally got the concept and didn't try to glue any buttons outside of the heart!

 She seemed to really enjoy this craft and was a big help. Aside from tracing the heart, I'd say we did this project 50:50! I knew that if I did this project with Mollie instead of by myself, it might not turn out quite like I'd planned, but I absolutely love it, and think it turned out perfectly. 

 I'm glad I didn't tell her where to put the buttons, and let her be creative, because she had some really awesome ideas, like gluing smaller buttons inside the larger buttons, and putting the pearl right in the bottom point.

I framed it in a shadowbox frame. Here is the finished product:

There were a few buttons left after the heart was filled in, and Mollie didn't want to stop gluing..

..so I suggested she fill in the template I'd used.

 I took advantage of Mollie being engrossed in her project to do another short little Valentine craft. I was inspired by the framed "butterfly art" that has kind of been a fad for the last few years (like this, this, and this), and decided to try it with hearts instead. This would have been a little easier with a heart shaped punch, but I just made a little heart template, used it to cute out a few hearts from scrapbook paper, and stitched them onto another paper using my sewing machine.

I won this frame at a baby shower a few months ago and thought it was perfect for this project.

Well there you go..

And in case you wondering how I'm able to craft with two kids, it was complete chaos the whole time with Mollie trying to sit on the edge of the table, Delia on my lap trying to steal buttons, and the cat running crazily around the apartment chasing glue stick caps. :)