Last Inspiration Photo

Wow, my 365 Sewn Hearts Challenge starts tomorrow, so today I am posting an inspiration photo for the last time!  These hearts are made by prairie.mouse on flickr (she also made yesterday's linen heart).  I love the variety of embroidery designs and stitches she used.

Linen Inspiration

Look at how sweet this monochromatic linen heart is!  The bunny embroidery is just too cute!  This comes from prairie.mouse on flickr.  This is another great idea I will use in the coming year.

Felt Heart Inspiration

Aahhh, these beautiful hearts make me happy just to look at them!  I've done simple felt hearts, but Cheryl at Felt So Good took these to another level.  I MUST MAKE SOME LIKE THESE!  And I believe that when my Heart-A-Day challenge starts (in 3 days!!), I will!

Bookmark Heart

This is a totally new use for a heart--a bookmark!  Artfully Sew on Etsy was really thinking outside the box when she came up with this idea.  I love the little tail of embroidery floss.  These would make nice little gifts to include in a card or letter, or as an "extra" in a Craftster swap.

Colorful Heart

This heart is so pretty and colorful!  And it looks exactly like the sort of thing I like to make!  I love the raw-edge piecing of the batik fabrics.  You can find this heart and more like it for sale at Music Teachah on Etsy.  It's flat, not stuffed, and I will surely do something like this during my heart-a-day challenge.  It would be great in red and pink for Valentine's day, on a garland.

Simple Heart

This is a simple idea for a simple heart--mount it on a card, so when you give the card you also give a gift.  This picture comes from jaidenraitextiles on Etsy.  She mounted the heart on a magnet, but it would be great as a pin too.  Yes, I will do some of these!

Non-Heart Inspiration

Today's inspiration heart isn't a heart!  I saw these amazingly cute pouches at Roxy Creations, and I just ADORE the embroidery and applique--wouldn't they be awesome on a stuffed heart??  Yes, they would!  You can expect to see me do something like this on a heart in the coming months.

If My Heart Had Wings

This is another heart with wings--this one has fabric wings, and comes to us from Poppy's Garden on Etsy.  I think I will combine these fabric wings with the small hearts in a previous post (since I'm not a metal-worker!) for my heart challenge.

Isn't this one sweet?

Collage Heart

Ten days to go until I start my "heart a day" challenge!

Today I want to show you this pretty heart from Blackbirds and Bumblebees.  I love all the "extras" on it; this one is larger than most of the hearts I've seen, and it looks wonderful with the lace, ribbon, and pieces of jewelry.  It could stand alone as a wall ornament.  I think you will see me make one or more hearts similar to this!

Recycled Fabric Hearts

These heart pins are so gorgeous, I just kind of melt when I look at this picture.  I don't think I could recreate these exactly, but it would be interesting to see what I end up with if I give it a try!  I saw these at  Great Green Goods.  Apparently they are made by rolling and layering fabrics, then slicing them like polymer clay canes. 

Framed Hearts

I love this idea for my heart challenge!  These framed hearts are from Rubber Stamps Ink; they are made from paper and scrapbooking materials, but I can totally see doing this with small stuffed hearts--it would be so awesome to turn the hearts into framed art.  And the amazing thing is, just yesterday I was looking at some frames that would be perfect for this!  Now I have to go back to that store and buy one!

Heart Charms

Here are today's inspiration hearts...sweet, tiny fabric heart charms from an etsy shop called tamdoll

I love the way she has used embroidery in a way that accentuates the fabric pattern.  I can see myself using embroidery to make some plain hearts more lively during my challenge!

Winged Hearts

These pins are so cute I can't stand it!  They are from a blog called Art Spirit.  I desperately want to make some, but I don't know about the wings--I'm not comfortable working with metal.  Maybe I can figure out how to stiffen some silver satin to use instead...

Glass Hearts

Even though these hearts are glass, not fabric, I find them EXTREMELY interesting and inspiring; they make me want to try to imitate them in fabric.  This picture is on Flickr, as part of the Creative Glass Guild on Etsy.

Basket Full of Hearts

I love these artsy-scrappy looking hearts.  The surface stitching adds so much detail.  These are from Beauty Incognito

Pretty

Today's inspiration:  a tray of pretty hearts from Purplecats Corner.

Twig Wreath

I LOVE THIS WREATH SO MUCH!!

Oh, yeah, you will DEFINITELY see me make one (or more) of these during the challenge!!  This one is from Velvet Brown Home Accessories.

Inspiration

One hundred hearts!  That's some inspiration!  This picture comes from Vintage Dorset.

Waiting

While I'm waiting impatiently for the new year to begin, so I can officially start this challenge, I will post pictures of hearts I'm finding on the internet.  These are all inspiring to me, and I know there will be times in the coming year when I will need inspiration!

Here's something beautiful I saw today:


I really enjoy looking at a big pile of hearts!  These all have different things embroidered on them.  There are a lot of ways I could go with this.  This picture comes from Africa Creative.

Heart Garland

A reader left a comment on the previous post about making a garland out of my hearts at the end of the year; I love that idea, and I'm not the only one who does!  Amanda on Craftster posted this picture of the garland she made with the "hope" hearts some of us Craftster friends made for her:

You can read more about the heart project at my other blog, Leslie's Art and Sew. 

You can read Amanda's post on Craftster by clicking HERE.  It has gotten a LOT of comments, and will lift your spirits!

Heart Challenge 2012

My friend Susan didn't exactly challenge me to see if I could make 365 new and different hearts in a year; she just strongly encouraged me to, and gave me the name for this blog...she is very persuasive, and although I have serious doubts about my ability to do this and still keep juggling all the other balls that make up my life, what the heck, I'll give it a try.

So here it is, November 29, 2011, and starting on January 1st I will begin this challenge.  The good news is that I have a month to get a head start on it!  It also gives me time to think about what to do with all those hearts at the end of the year.  My first thought:  make some heart wreaths, like this plushie wreath I made with some plushies I made and received in Craftster swaps this year:

At JoAnn's today I saw some nice grapevine wreaths that would be great throughout the year.  I could make them in different colors, or themes...this is sounding more fun, the more I think about it!  If you have any great ideas for hearts you would like to see me make, or things to do with the hearts at the end of the year, please leave a comment below.  I love comments!  They keep me going!  Please--leave a comment!