Crafty Valentine-ers.

We've been on a crafting and cooking roll here at Chez Happy Runner. Bread, biscuits, soup. Collages, heart chains, sun-catchers. All lot of doing. And my boys love it. They enjoy the doing, the working together. 

Over the past week or so, it's been all hearts, all the time. At one point, my son asked if we could make a Valentine's Day wreath. Well, sure! I didn't know exactly how we'd go about it but then I put my thinking cap on, called up all the creativity I have (not much) and planned out a cute, easy-to-make wreath.

So, for you procrastinators out there who still want to do a little Valentine's day decorating, I give you this: 

• Start with a thin wire clothes hanger.

• Clip the hook end off with a wire cutter, and twist the remaining ends together (be careful if they are sharp at all).

• Shape the hanger into a heart shape -- with a thin hanger, the shaping is easy. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get the general shape of a heart.

• Next, find an old RED t-shirt, top, sweatpants, socks, towel, whatever to cut into strips. I used an old polo-style top that was stained and ready to be tossed out. 

• Cut the shirt (or whatever you are using) into strips, about 1 inch wide and 4-6 inches long:

• Again, they don't need to be perfect. As you can see, my strips were all different lengths. In my opinion, that adds to the charm of the wreath :-)

• Cut about 50 strips.

Now you're prepped and ready to go!

• Take the heart-shaped hanger and start tying your strips of material on it, in a simple knot. Nothing fancy. Tie as many as you need to cover the entire hanger.

Viola! Easy Valentine's Day wreath! This is what is now hanging on our front door:

To hang the wreath on the door, I used an extra strip to make a loop that I then tied on to one of the tied strips on the wreath. 

It looks cute and, best of all,  my son loves it!

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Yesterday was a rest day after my cold, long run on Sunday. Today I have 6 on the schedule; 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles of pick-ups at 5K pace, 1 mile cool-down. It is one of my favorite workouts so I'm looking forward to it!

I'm also looking forward to a little baking, Valentine's Day style. The boys are, too.

Have a great day, everyone!

~ Felice