a heart of wood

I have a confession to make.  With all the snow, ice, and frigid temperatures we've had around here I didn't take my Christmas wreath off the front door until last week.  The evergreens were still in good shape but the red holly had long since shriveled into little black balls, so I figured it was time to part ways.

The front door sat lonely and unadorned while I figured out what I wanted to put out there.  I wanted something seasonal for Valentine's Day, but didn't have anything on hand and I really didn't want to buy something.  Then an idea came to me one night as I was laying in bed thinking of all the crafts I want to make.  Why not make a heart out of wood planks?

I just so happened to have a few whitewashed (and dirty) pieces of wood in the basement that have been used in more random projects than I can count. They were a little too long so I cut them in half (using a mitar saw- go me!) and then laid them out on the floor to figure out my design.

I used one side of a plank as an edge, then I traced a line across the other boards. I used the saw to cut along the line, then I brought the wood back inside to put it all together. I ended up fastening the boards together using wood glue and my staple gun, probably not the most long-lasting method but it works for now.

Initially I free handed the heart shape because I wanted something unsymmetrical, but eventually I ended up using a bowl as a template.  I can buy something unsymmetrical but I don't think my hands and brain will let me craft something like that (the OCD is just too strong).

I probably could have cut out the heart mounds (that sounds so weird) myself but I'm not as comfortable with the jigsaw, so I waited a few days until my husband got around to it.

When I first hung the heart on the door it just didn't look quite right (at least on the door).  So I played around with some different materials for awhile before I settled on adding the grapevine.  The grapevine was one long garland so I cut some pieces off and wired them together to form a smaller heart.  I attached that to the wood heart with a few more staples. 

The heart wasn't exactly what I was envisioning but I like it.  It's something unique that I made myself (well, almost).

I've actually been up to a lot of fun projects/ baking this week that I can't wait to share soon.  

What have you been up to?