DIY Valentines decoration with a doily and a coathanger

Doilies are little things of wonder, an intricate relic of a daintier world whose stars faded in the eighties. (Like most good things, eh? MC Hammer pants, Button Moon, my childhood.) I heard it was once commonplace, before the advent of T.V cabinets, to have a giant doily placed over your telly, to hide its big, boxy crassness.  Giant doilies, eh? Can you IMAGINE.

I recently inherited a small stack of doilies from my Nana. I was thrilled to BITS with this lacey, memory exuding pile. Although when I got them home I figured out why I normally don’t snap them up when they are going for a song at a car boot sale. What do you do with them? They are superfluous wee things. When put on your shelves under ornaments, as is, I gather, traditionally done, they add a fiddliness to dusting that makes me think there was probably a perfect correlation between the increase in women in the workplace and the descent of the doily’s popularity.

I need no other disincentive for cleaning so I have had a LOT of fun crafting with the doilys over the last few days. I am most excited about this:

*sings operatically* “YESSS! A Valentines Wreath! It is exactly what everybody neeeeeeds” (Since seeing Les Mis last week, which was basically me paying a tenner to sit in a public place and sob for three hours, I have been UNABLE to not sing almost everything. It all just sounds so much better, makes life a lot more dramatic. Imagine every other sentence in song, if you can.)

You need:
Air Dry Clay – this is worth having, it is so easy to work with and non messy and especially good if you are a parent who likes to craft as it can occupy tots too. Ramona and I can happily play with this together for an hour. Although salt-dough would also work.
A Doily
Scissors (or a cookie cutter – but I love the way it feels, cutting this stuff)
A rolling pin
A coat hanger

Simply roll out your clay to about 0.5 cm, and then cut out your hearts. Place your doily on one corner – or the whole thing, if you fancy- and roll your pin over it again, very, very firmly, just once, it should end up about a third of a CM thick.

Do this with about ten hearts of different sizes.

Meanwhile, take a coathanger and undo it. Twist it in on itself until it is a sphere with a circumference of about 10cm, with a small hook at the top.

Once your hearts are dry (this could take up to a day by a radiator) glue them on (liberal with the glue folks, this isn’t the Depression. Nope, just a quadruple dip recession.)

Hang it up! Ta Da!

I am pretty happy with how it looks, but mostly I flipping loved making it. So much fun, so quick and simple.

Made anything lately? Would love to see it!

PS I’d hate for you to miss a post… enter your email to get them pinged into your inbox. I won’t be spamalot, promise!

PPS Linking up with the most magnificent Liz and those other marvellous Magpies!