Michele Made Me

One birdie's attempt to figure things out. Oh, and crafts.

Tutorial: Sunkissed Heart Wreath

by

 

Lo and I celebrated 15 years of togetherness last Monday. My heart feels like it’s been kissed by the sun since I’ve known him. I dedicate this post, the result, and my very heart to him.

This wreath is inspired by those beautiful string wedding balloon displays, like THIS one, for example.


Tutorial ♥ A Sunkissed Heart Wreath

You will need:

  • 2 long skinny balloons (the type used to make balloon animals)
  • balloon pump (unless you have gorilla lungs)
  • white (PVA) glue
  • water
  • container for glue
  • yarn
  • pair of scissors
  • pin or sharp thing
  • length of ribbon (optional)
  • drop cloth or newspaper

Step 1. Using the pump, blow up the two skinny balloons. Try making them of equal size or as close to it as possible leaving tails a few inches long. Knot them.
Step 2. Gently tie the knotted end to the tail end to create two loopy balloons as shown.
Step 3. Cut up your yarn into several 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) lengths. Pour some glue out into the container. Add a little water to the glue to make it a little runnier than normal. Say 4:1 glue to water.
Step 4. Now to the messy part. One at a time, drop your yarn pieces into the glue, coating them fully and removing any excess dripping glue. Wrap your gluey yarn around a balloon. Continue in this way, wrapping your balloons with gluey yarn, criss-crossing over lower layers and building up a web of yarn around each balloon. Note that in photo 4, my balloons still require more yarn as they would NOT be strong enough to hold the shape if left as shown. However you do not want to fully cover the balloons either. You want the sun to shine through your heart (words of wisdom my friend)… Let these dry overnight on clean glass or plastic. Do not dry it on paper or you’ll wind up with gobs of paper permanently attached to your heart. No no.

 

Step 5. The next day: Prick the balloons with a pin (or sharp thing) and gently pull out the balloon carcasses. It’s cool how hard your pieces are, once dry. Now, you want to place your balloons side by side to see if they need to be trimmed or not, and to figure out the best way to join them into a heart shape.

 

Here’s what I did:

Step 6. I started with the bottom joint. I butted the two ends together as shown. No glue yet.
Step 7. And for the top joint, I cut away half the cylinder (equal in length to the diameter of the cylinder).
Step 8. This made a recess into which the other end fit nicely. Now I checked to be sure that with both sides butted together my heart was actually heart-shaped. I had to trim a little off the bottom of one side so it all looked hunky dory.
Step 9. I then strengthened both joints with several lengths of gluey yarn. Notice the many overlaps. Once dry, these joints are strong like bull. At this point, I also added a few lengths of yarn over the rest of the heart to make it extra robust. Allow your heart to dry out overnight on glass or plastic.

 

The next morning, find your heart ready to be hung up and admired!

String it up with a ribbon, place it in a window and let the sun beam through it. Just LOVE-ly!…

 

Happy anniversary Lo. My heart is yours. Let’s keep up the good work, okay?

♥M

Oh! And speaking of wreaths, check out my latest project. It’s a blog! I call it:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. June says

    GORGE-OUS!!!!! I'm going to give this a try (as soon as I can round up some balloons) I took a quick peek at The Wreath Blog, looks great! As always, thank you so much for the inspiration!

  5. Michelle L. says

    Crazy! In the best way! And pretty fabulous…only you could construct this idea. I am so impressed with the top joint – precise and wonderful!

    Happy Anniversary to you guys, you sound like such a wonderful, mutually supportive pair of lovebirds.

    The Wreath Blog – brilliant idea, I think it will be a huge huge hit! It's really beautiful…SOMEDAY I might need to come up with a wreath and hope you like it enough to give it a place of honor in your lovely new creation.

  6. Nunurina says

    Sigues sorprendiendome cada vez más! Una idea genial, un tutorial maravilloso y un corazón que es todo amor. LOVE LOVE LOVE
    Núria

  8. KJ@letsgoflyakite says

    Congratulations – Happy Anniversary, what a milestone. I have figured out how to browse with google chrome so that I can leave a comment. I absolutely love this idea, fun to do with the kids too – balloons, goo, and string. Beautiful project, and happy anniversary again. (the newspaper shot with Mayor Miller made me smile too!)

  10. Fiona says

    happy anniversary… such a beautiful project to celebrate… … and you know what.. .the next 15 will be even more fun!!
    Hugz

  11. felicity says

    Wow – that looks awesome. I will admire from afar because I know myself well enough to know that my own version would….not look like this. At all. Whatsoever. happy anniversary!

  14. Anonymous says

    VRaiment très joli coeur ! Votre idée est géniale, merci de nous en faire profiter !
    Isac

  18. Kate says

    Hi Michelle. Your wreath is cool (and very pretty)! I have to say that I am amazed it keeps its shape so well after the balloon has been popped. Good old PVA eh!

  23. Melissa says

    Michelle, you never cease to amaze me. This is beautiful. We'll have to meet up and craft together someday, maybe I can absorb some of your genius through sheer osmosis.

  25. Zakka Life says

    I love that you used skinny balloons to make this, so clever! And the wreath is just lovely. I really like the simplicity of it.

    Happy Anniversary.

  26. Alessandra says

    Simple and magnificent! I love this wreath and in red or strong pink it will be a great gift for Valentine day! Thank you for sharing and good luck with your new blog!
    love, xxx Alessandra

  30. pam says

    I wonder if you really appreciate the excellence of your engineering skills! You continue to amaze me.

    I have seen so many "glue and wrap string" crafts, I have grown tired of them. But THIS ! Brilliant! Beautiful! And if i hadn't already made two heart wreaths, I would make this one!

  31. pam says

    PS! Thanks for the heads up on the Wreath Blog! OMG. Like I need another wreath. But OMG! How can I not be inspired!

  32. Ariane says

    I love your heart wreath !!! It's gorgeous!! Congratulations to you and Lo!!!!! You two are so good together!!! Love you both!!!

  34. Amy Friend says

    Beautiful work Michele and congratulations to you and Lo! I love the wreath blog idea. I have a fondness for wreaths as well and haven't made any in quite awhile. I will be looking for inspiration!

  36. Kimberley Anderson says

    Hello Michele,
    I am getting married in May. I am making yarn balls that look like this. I know this is a bit of a strange request but I was wondering if you would be able to make me two of these hearts with purple yarn for my wedding. I will be willing to pay the shipping, cost of materials, and a some for your troubles. Thanks so much!

    • Michele Pacey says

      Hi Kimberly,

      If you email me directly at michelemademe (AT) gmail (DOT) com, then I'd have your email and we could discuss this further.

      Until then, have a great day.

      Michele

  39. Mystery Robin says

    I'm trying to make your heart right now! I've wrapped the balloons and set them to dry overnight. It's morning, and they aren't quite dry yet, but I made them last night, so I think they need a few more hours. Do you mind if I ask what kind of yarn you used? I used just a cheap acrylic and now I'm a little worried that it won't soak up the glue well enough. Did you use wool or cotton or acrylic or something else?
    Thanks! Robin

    • Michele Pacey says

      Hi Robin,

      Oh, so excited that you're giving this a try! I used some thrifted yarn I had… so it didn't have a label but I'm almost 100% certain there's a good amount of cotton in the yarn. However, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It does take a while to dry completely. And different yarns will probably dry at different rates. So let it do that, and I bet you it will get nice and hard once done. Fingers crossed for you that all goes well!

      Have a great evening Robin. 🙂

  42. Anonymous says

    Michele, Your words and your art actually made me cry (in a good way. I love all of your work, and my granddaughter is into recycling, and my daughter throws a wonderfull Halloween party every year (spiders), so we will be doing a great many of your wonderful tutes.Happy Anniversary you two love birds.

  45. vanetia says

    AWSM AWSM! Ive done the baloon chandelliers for my sister's baby shower and been wanting to makesomemore and hire out for weddings ….how awsm this variation would be!!! gonna try it 🙂

  50. Deepti says

    This s d most beautiful thing I have seen!!!thank you…ur creation s gonna hang in a house in india…(Ie if m successful makin this):) 🙂

  51. JayB says

    Is Elmer's glue the same thing as PVA glue? When I popped the balloon the yarn did not hold it's shape at all. Wondering what I did wrong.

    • michpacey@gmail.com says

      Hi Jay,

      PVA (poly-vinyl acetate) is a strong variety of white glue. I think Elmer's is probably diluted somewhat for kids so I would advise against using it in this project.

      Michele

  52. Jasmine Galan says

    I started on this project yesterday and when I popped the balloons this morning the yarn held the round shape of the balloon, but it was really flimsy, like a slinky. If I put it into the shape it looked fine, but it wouldn't stay in the shape when I moved it.