In this craft tutorial, I will show you how I made some primitive Valentine decor with pipe cleaners and wooden beads. I made a Valentine heart garland and some ornies to hang on cabinet doors with some of the extra hearts.
Watch the Valentine Decor Tutorial Video:
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Making the Primitive Hearts:
I started with bright pink, red, white, and red and white striped 12″ pipe cleaners. I ended up using only the solid red and solid white ones.
To begin, use a rag to rub some antiquing medium onto the pipe cleaners to make them look old.
After the pipe cleaners are dry from the antiquing process, cut the pipe cleaners in half to make two 6″ segments.
Fold the 6″ pipe cleaner in half and make a heart shape with the two ends. Overlap the two ends and twist to hold everything in place. Rearrange the heart to get the shape you like. I made mine short and fat.
I used 3 hearts on the garland and 3 on each ornie.
Pour some spray on Mod Podge into a paint tray. Dip a heart into the Mod Podge and then sprinkle it with glitter. I used two different sizes of glitter. Set it aside to dry.
Paint the Beads:
For the garland, you will need 4 – 1″ and 12 – 1/2″ wooden beads. For each ornie, you will need 1 – 1″ bead. Paint the larger beads with white paint and the smaller beads with red paint. I put the beads on a wooden skewer to help hold them while painting.
After the paint dries, lightly sand the beads.
If desired, you can use some antiquing medium on the beads.
Assemble the Primitive Valentine Heart Garland:
It is easiest to assemble the garland if you lay the beads and hearts out in order.
Red bead, white bead, red bead, heart, * 2 red beads, white bead, 2 red beads, heart * Repeat for a total of 2 times, red bead, white bead, red bead
String 3 end beads onto a 50″ piece of thin jute. (To make it easier to string the beads onto the jute, you can coat the end of the jute with some beeswax.)
String a heart onto the jute. Tie the heart onto the jute. Arrange the knot so it is at the top of the heart’s hump and on the back side of the heart. Thread the jute through the other side of the heart and to the front.
Tie another knot on the second hump of the heart, keeping the knot on the back side.
Continue threading beads and hearts onto the jute.
After everything is on the jute, center the hearts and beads on the piece of jute and tie a knot at each end to keep the beads from sliding.
Tie loops at each end of the garland for hanging.
Make the Valentine Ornies:
Cut a 24″ piece of jute. String three hearts onto the jute (no tying necessary this time). Fold the jute in half with the hearts at the fold. Tie a knot in the jute about 1/2″ – 1″ up from the hearts.
Thread a 1″ painted bead onto the double strand of jute. Use the beeswax again if necessary.
About 4-5″ above the bead, tie another knot. This will be the loop for hanging. You can make this bigger or smaller based on where you want to hang the Valentine ornie. Cut off the excess jute above that knot.
If desired, you can tie on a thin strip of red checked fabric right above the bead.
I hope you enjoyed this primitive craft tutorial.
You might also like our Valentine Heart Envelope Tutorial.
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