Easy Watercolor Heart Garland

This is an easy, fun, and inexpensive way to decorate for Valentines Day, or any other sweet occasion! All you need is a book you're not planning to reread, twine, red mini clothespins, and watercolors. It takes less than an hour to put together, although you may need more time for drying.
Collect your supplies: Jute twine, red mini clothespins, several book pages, and a watercolor set.
Tear several pages out of your book, so they can be shaped into hearts. I chose to tear out my heart shapes by hand for a more rustic look, but you can use scissors if you want cleaner lines.
To get the heart shapes: fold the page in half lengthwise, then tear out half of a heart shape, paying attention to the orientation of the words on the page. Unfold and make sure it's the size and shape that you want. (I had to do this a few times to get it right.) Then you can use that first one as a template for all the remaining hearts.
To paint the edges, first use a large brush to "paint" clear water all over the heart. This will help the paint seep in from the edges, creating the watercolor effect.
Before the water dries, use another brush to paint red watercolor paint around the edges. It doesn't need to look perfect - those variations add to the charm of the garland. Set aside to dry.
Repeat, about a million times. Or, as many times as you need to get a long enough garland. As the hearts are drying, they may curl and crinkle. This is what gives them a fun 3-D look.
Once the hearts are dry, clip them to the jute twine at about 6 inch intervals. (In this picture they are clipped in the center, but I ended up clipping them from one corner once I hung them up, for a jaunty look.) Leave about a foot of string on each end for tying up the garland.
I tied my garlands to my curtain rods, but you could also tack them to the wall or a bulletin board with fun thumbtacks for a different look. For more details, check out the full blog post, and Happy Valentines!
Meredith Wouters
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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