SOS137: ♥valentiny!♥

ok, yeah, we confess: this week at shopping our stash, the challenge is kind of a gimme; because we know that most likely you need to be making a love-themed project or two about now, so we'd love for you to come and link them up with us. sound good? yep. we thought so! here's what i made:
 

(patterned paper--all scraps, wahey: basic grey, prima, studio calico, american crafts, glitz design, sassafras, recollections, heidi swapp; cardstock letter stickers (mounted on foam tape): reminisce; florals: prima, petaloo; circle punch: ek success; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine, hot glue gun)

you may remember that i have a very lovely niece called riley who was born on valentine's day. which means, for the twelfth consecutive year, she will be getting quite a few heart-themed cards and packages. i'm kind of hoping mine will be the ONLY hand-pieced, machine-stitched, heart-shaped paper-quilt-adorned gift bag, however; and i think i might be safe in that assumption, lol. here's a photo of the assembled bag:

the bag is one of the larger sized plain glossy white ones they sell at michaels; to the top of which i've attached (with my trusty low-temp hot glue gun) two layers of vintage lace and one of pale pink trim. the oversized heart is tacked on with just a few pieces of foam tape, so it can be easily removed and hung on the birthday girl's bedroom door.

i took this beautiful color palette from this month's paper sweeties challenge (#16), "be mine" and used scraps from my stash to make the quilty heart-- an excellent way to use up little squares AND some pretty small strips of leftover paper, so i think i'll be using this technique again.

in the meantime, i know you'll love seeing all of the different takes on "valentiny" gorgeousness as practiced by my amazing fellow DT-members at SOS, so off you go, darlings! ♥