How to repurpose loom bands into a DIY woven heart

I don't know about you, but we seem to have alot of loom bands hanging around the house.

I though I would share this creative way to reuse them to make a woven heart.

I created this woven heart using:
- round wood slice (I bought mine from our local wood recycling centre. You could contact a tree surgeon, or maybe use an offcut of wood)
- paper heart template
- small nails
- hammer
- loom bands, but you could use elastic bands too

First I created a heart template in paper and stuck it to the wood with blu tack. I then tapped the nails in around the shape of the template. Finally I looped the loom bands onto the nails. It's as simple as that.

My design is super-simple, so you could adapt the idea to make it more intricate. You could fill the centre of the heart with more nails and criss cross the loom bands. Or maybe go for a more elaborate shape. How about using a whole rainbow of loom band colours?

I am really pleased with the way my DIY project turned out. I'm planning on making some more to put on our allotment. I may try a star shape next or my initials. I'd love to hear your ideas...

If you'd like to see more creative projects, head over to my Pinterest...I'd love to connect with you over there!

I am linking up with Trash to Treasure over on www.coombemill.com

Free beatles inspired valentine embroidery pattern

I created this Beatles-inspired embroidery hoop for Valentine's Day last year. I wanted to share the pattern with my blog readers. You are welcome to download and print the pdf pattern featured at the bottom of this post.

There's something so uplifting about the Beatles "All You Need Is Love". Reading about the song online, the Beatles said this song: "cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything". With this in mind, I was inspired to stitch a section of the song.

I transferred my template onto a piece of vintage fabric, but it works equally well on plain fabric.

I created my hoop using backstitch in a bergundy thread.

You could use any stitch or colour thread - how about embellishing the text with your own design ideas? Maybe some extra hearts or flowers.

Click on the arrow in top right corner of the image below to open in a new window. Free to download and print...enjoy!

If you love crafting, you might like to join our new Instagram community. Tag your creative images with #craftingismytherapy_february to join in. The hashtag will change to reflect the month we are currently in. Head over to my Instagram account to find out more...

I'm linking up with these lovely blogs:

HomeEtc over on thetwinklediaries.co.uk and mummyofboygirltwins.com