As a kid, my mom used to go all out for the holidays. On Valentine’s Day, she’d decorate the table with candy and festive decor and personalize the seats for me and my brother. She always has made each celebration, birthday, and holiday so incredibly special!  While some people view Valentine’s Day as cheesy or ridiculous, for me, it will always remind me of being a kid and being so excited to wake up to a super festive breakfast table on Valentine’s Day morning.  I was thinking of ways to recreate my childhood table in a way that would appeal to a slightly (very slightly) more adult me that, most importantly, would not creep my boyfriend out.  After a little thought, I came up with the idea for these adorable “you” & “me” chair signs, which definitely add an extra touch of cuteness to our kitchen table.  Huge thanks to my Mom for the inspiration!  (Hi Mom!!)

And again, like my other Valentine’s Day crafts, these chair signs don’t just appeal to February 14th – they’d be great for seats at weddings, bride/groom chairs, dinner parties, birthdays, etc.  Mini versions would be adorable as individual seating cards atop place settings.  The hearts can be personalized with any word or name.  And also, they could essentially be displayed anywhere around the house (the mantle, on a door, in the bedroom, etc.).  Do you see all of these options, people?!  This craft definitely has extensions well beyond Valentine’s Day.  The DIY tutorial is below – enjoy!

Materials Needed (for 2 hearts):

• Red construction paper – 4 pieces, each approx. 18″ x 24″
• Scissors, Pencil, Scotch Tape
• Sewing machine (or embroidery needle and thread)
• 8 sheets of Tissue Paper
• White Paint and Paintbrush
• Ampersand (&) Symbol
• Mounting Tape and Twine or String

Directions:

1. Using your pencil, draw a heart on one of the pieces of construction paper.  Cut it out and use the pattern to trace the heart onto the 3 other pieces of construction paper. Put aside two of the heart patterns for now.

2. Apply a few pieces of tape around your two heart patterns to secure the pieces together and ensure they stay aligned.  Using a sewing machine, begin to sew the two identical pieces together, starting at the bottom tip of the heart. Make sure to sew about 1/2″ inside from the edge of your paper to avoid the thread from unraveling.

Note: If you don’t have a sewing machine, stitch by hand with an embroidery needle and some embroidery floss.

3. Once you have about 4″ left to sew, stop there.

4. Using the 4″ gap, stuff your heart with a few sheets of tissue paper to give the heart some volume. Once it’s stuffed, sew the heart closed. Don’t worry if your sewing line isn’t perfect – personally, I think that the imperfections can be the best part – they definitely add character to each heart.

Now repeat steps #2 – #4 for the two remaining heart patterns. 

5. If you like your handwriting and want to freehand the personalization part – go ahead and skip this step.  If not, I’d recommend printing out the words or names you want to have on each of your hearts.  Once you have printed out your words, stencil them onto each heart.

6. Once you’ve traced an outline of each word, use a small paintbrush and paint each word. Set the hearts aside to dry.

7. For the “&” you can either make your own ampersand (by tracing/cutting the symbol onto a piece of heavy construction paper), or you can buy a wood one like I did from a craft store. If using a wood ampersand symbol, apply a fresh coat of paint to brighten it up and then set it aside to dry.

Once the paint is dry, arrange your hearts and ampersand for display.  If displaying on chairs, use mounting tape to secure the hearts to the chairs and twine to hang the ampersand in between each chair.