Here is my first project for the 100 things from my stash challenge.
Honestly, I had started this before I started the challenge and I have been working on it off and on for several days. Here  are some photos of the beginning of the project. I was inspired by different photos on Pinterest and blogs that I read. I try to decorate a little for each of the different holidays but I was wanting something new.
This vase with flowers and sticks is from http://mijnindiansummer.blogspot.nl/2013/02/vintage-altijd-bloeiende-bloemen.html.
Michaels version of sticks in a jar. Â http://www.pinterest.com/pin/364158319839146292/
So I started with the sticks in a jar.
Ok, a little reality here. The sticks are from  my yard. The curly ones are honeysuckle vines that came down in the storm. The jar is an old spaghetti sauce jar that someone felt we needed to keep. The plaster of paris holding the sticks upright in the jar is leftover from some school or scout project. The crochet is made up from the tiny balls of yarn and some granny square extras left over from a blanket. I painted the sticks in about ten minute sessions over a couple of days. So, it wasn’t a big time waster.
The felt hearts I had made up about six years ago to put in a bowl on the same table. They simply looked awful and I put them in a zipper bag and forgot about them. Originally they were simply one color of felt on the front and looked blah. Quite frankly, the felt was collected over the years. Some of the felt, I used in grade school. My Mom gave it back to me when the girls were in scouts.
I pulled out my embroidery floss and felt bits. I Â used the floss bits that I were too short to keep. No, really I had a bunch of bits and pieces of floss that were already separated and cut from the skein.
I used my infinite supply of buttons too small to use on anything on the front and sometimes the back to add a bit of interest and sparkle. It has turned out better than I expected.
Here it is finished and ready for Valentine’s Day!
Talk to you later,
Karen