How To--Heart House Ornament

I can't take full credit for the design of this ornament.  I found the instructions for this ornament on another Blog:  http://www.michelemademe.com/2011/11/michele-made-me-ornament-overview.html. This is an excellent Blog with instructions to make so many things!  She ran a series of holiday ornaments and this was her final installment last year. Thanks Michele!

 I have a lot of old Christmas cards and I liked the look of this ornament so I gave it a try!

I made a few changes to her directions, but not many.

l.  Supplies you'll need:   Old Christmas cards, scissors, permanent glue stick, clothes pins or clips, string, beads and template paper.  I used water color paper but any would work.

2.  Make the template for the heart house.  Mine is approximately 3 1/2".  Fold the template paper in half and draw half of the house.  Each side of the house must be exactly the same, ie. mirror image.

3. Using your template, trace and cut out 12 heart houses. I choose cards with similar colors.  (Keep the little heart cut-outs for another project.)

4. Take a house and turn it over to the back and apply glue to the left side only. ( * Always apply glue to left side back of each card.)  

5. Apply glue to the second card.

Turn over one house and place it on to the other, putting the glue free side on to the glued side of the first card.  It sounds confusing I know, but once you get going, it's easy.

6.  I glued up four houses at a time, 3 sets.  Then I glued them all together to make the ornament. 

7. Clamp and let dry.

8. Gather your sting and beads.
 Thread both ends of the string up through the center of the heart houses.  Pull to the top and add another bead on the string.  Tie the ends to make a hanger.  Apply some glue to the peak of the house to secure the top bead. (I use white craft glue for this.)

*An alternative to this process, is to put a knot in the end of the string, add a wooden bead, put the string up through the center of the houses, add another bead, glue to secure and tie off the string making a loop for hanging the ornament.

You're Done, your Heat House Ornament is ready to hang!
I hope you enjoy your hand made ornament using "re-claimed" Christmas cards!

Happy Holidays to All!!