my very first tutorial

the month of love for us is actually January.

 because it's the month we celebrate our anniversary.

and this year made 7 years for us

to celebrate the red hot {since we live in Alabama, I mean that literally,  lol} love month

I bring you my very first craft tutorial

a Valentine Door Hanger

mckdesigns.biz

I found this on Pinterest, but there was no tutorial to follow and that seriously bummed me out.

I was determined to make it, so a bloggy neighbor of mine and I headed out to Hobby Lobby and started searching high and low.

I had most of the items I needed

 but we bought 4 letters for $3 a piece and some lilac colored ribbon

What you Need::

pair of scissors

hot glue gun

lighter

1/4" ribbon in any color

5/8" ribbon in any color

needle and thread

circular stickers

skewer, optional

drill

can of red spray paint

drill tiny holes into the letters, from the front, where you want to tie the letters together with ribbon

 Add stickers to make a polka dot effect

Here's a close-up of drilled letters

  spray paint letters in layers, I think we used three layers of paint

 layer three

let dry overnight, even though it isn't necessary

 move to your work station and peel off stickers, we used a skewer, but you don't have to

 cut 6 pieces of 1/4" ribbon into 6" increments

take your lighter and burn the edges so it will go into the holes easily

it was a little tough to get the ribbon through the hole so I threaded a needle for a little help. I wanted my knots to be on the wrong side of the door hanger so I went the back on the X's and went through the fronts on the O's.

tie your ribbons with a square knot {its like a shoe tie, but it's right over left then left over right} and cut off the excess

hot glue under ribbon and around holes to add stability 

{my letters kept rubbing against and on top of each other}

Once all your 1/4" ribbon is threaded, knotted, glued and cut

take your 5/8" ribbon and cut two pieces of equal length. 

We used 18" only because I didn't want to block our peep hole

repeat the previous step with the lighter and needle/thread.

tie off and glue again

This step will be much more difficult because the ribbon is much thicker

have someone help you measure where you want your hanger to "sit" on the door and tie your ribbon at the proper length.

For the bow: Cut your 1/4" ribbon and 5'8" ribbon to the same length {we used 20-ish"}

lay your door hanger back on your workspace and tie a knot perpendicular to your hanging space.

Then tie a bow like you would a shoe. I am not good at making bows at all so this is the only part about the project I'm not happy with.

Here is what our front door looks like

and here's a closer look.

This is my very first craft tutorial EVER... and I would have to say

I'm pretty proud of myself..

If this tutorial inspires you, I'd love to see what you creative ladies come up with!

Happy Crafting :)