DIY embroidered valentines

Erin and I seem to be pretty big procrastinators these days. Perhaps you are like us and haven't started working on your valentines cards until the very last minute. If so, you should make some of these pretty embroidered valentines! They are super cute and very easy.

You'll need: scrap fabric in valentines colors, paper (preferably card stock), scissors, and a needle & embroidery floss.

 

Start by folding your paper perfectly in half, as you normally would when making a valentines card. Then cut out a rectangle of fabric for your background. It should be a little smaller than your card (or your paper folded in half).

Next, once you have a general design in mind for your card, cut out all shapes from other fabrics that you have and embroider those on. I just did a quick running stitch around the sides of my hearts. 

If you want to add any writing, I would suggest writing your phrase in pencil first, then embroidering your words with a double running stitch.

Once your design is completely done and beautiful, align your rectangle of fabric onto your card and stitch it on! 

Then you are ready to write your ooey gooey, lovey dovey, heart felt message inside. Good luck crafting! -l.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway, only a couple of days left!

Erin and I seem to be pretty big procrastinators these days. Perhaps you are like us and haven't started working on your valentines cards until the very last minute. If so, you should make some of these pretty embroidered valentines! They are super cute and very easy.

You'll need: scrap fabric in valentines colors, paper (preferably card stock), scissors, and a needle & embroidery floss.

 

Start by folding your paper perfectly in half, as you normally would when making a valentines card. Then cut out a rectangle of fabric for your background. It should be a little smaller than your card (or your paper folded in half).

Next, once you have a general design in mind for your card, cut out all shapes from other fabrics that you have and embroider those on. I just did a quick running stitch around the sides of my hearts. 

If you want to add any writing, I would suggest writing your phrase in pencil first, then embroidering your words with a double running stitch.

Once your design is completely done and beautiful, align your rectangle of fabric onto your card and stitch it on! 

Then you are ready to write your ooey gooey, lovey dovey, heart felt message inside. Good luck crafting! -l.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway, only a couple of days left!

Little Prairie Handmade Dress Giveaway.

Are you ready for this? Our second giveaway is a big one... I (Leah) am offering one of you lovely readers a chance to win one of my adorable heart back dresses in the color of your liking! Yes, you heard me correctly. A free dress with a heart cut out of the back. boom.

You have two ways to enter. Each time you enter you have another chance at winning, so we would highly encourage you to do both. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Here is how to enter:

#1. Favorite Little Prairie Handmade on Etsy. You should also pick your favorite item in the shop & specify which color of a heart back dress you think you would like for your own (you can seriously pick almost any, I will try to find it). Leave a comment with your picks.

#2. Follow E plus l on either Blogspot or Bloglovin'. These are both great ways for you to follow along with us as well as a great way for us to know how many people are following us regularly. Leave a comment saying you did so (If you already do follow us make sure to leave a comment saying so!)

We will draw for the winner on Valentines Day, please enter before midnight on the 13th! Good luck to all of you! If I was rich enough I'd make one for each of you lovelies. But sadly I only am capable of one.

-e plus l.

Once we have selected a winner we will contact them for information about what color they would like as well as which of the three sizes they would like. The dress will not be available before Valentines Day, please allow at least 2-3 weeks for the dress to be made.

Are you ready for this? Our second giveaway is a big one... I (Leah) am offering one of you lovely readers a chance to win one of my adorable heart back dresses in the color of your liking! Yes, you heard me correctly. A free dress with a heart cut out of the back. boom.

You have two ways to enter. Each time you enter you have another chance at winning, so we would highly encourage you to do both. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Here is how to enter:

#1. Favorite Little Prairie Handmade on Etsy. You should also pick your favorite item in the shop & specify which color of a heart back dress you think you would like for your own (you can seriously pick almost any, I will try to find it). Leave a comment with your picks.

#2. Follow E plus l on either Blogspot or Bloglovin'. These are both great ways for you to follow along with us as well as a great way for us to know how many people are following us regularly. Leave a comment saying you did so (If you already do follow us make sure to leave a comment saying so!)

We will draw for the winner on Valentines Day, please enter before midnight on the 13th! Good luck to all of you! If I was rich enough I'd make one for each of you lovelies. But sadly I only am capable of one.

-e plus l.

Once we have selected a winner we will contact them for information about what color they would like as well as which of the three sizes they would like. The dress will not be available before Valentines Day, please allow at least 2-3 weeks for the dress to be made.

DIY heart print fabric (table cloth, tapestry, photo backdrop, etc)

We weren't quite sure what to call this craft of ours because it can have so many fun uses, so I suppose heart print fabric will have to do the trick. Our original intention was for it to be a cute table cloth for your "at home Valentines day date", but it could also work for so many other things, such as a tapestry, a photo back drop, fabric to make clothing out of, and so on! Here is how to make it:

You'll need: An old bed sheet (or other fabric), an apple, red fabric paint, a paper plate, a knife, an iron & ironing board and something to protect your work surface. 

I started by preparing my old bedsheet. My queen size bedsheet was a little to large to be an actual table cloth, unless of course you'd like to not be able to find your table under the mass of fabric, so I cut it in half. Of course if you are just using fabric, you could skip this step. I then folded the cut edge in a half inch and another half inch, ironed and sewed it to create a new hem.

Once my fabric was ready, I took my apple and cut off a third of it from one side and carved a heart into the larger piece (you may eat the other chunk). This apple becomes your stamp for making your heart print.

Now that your stamp and your fabric are ready you can start printing! I laid out my fabric on some old cardboard (painted on dorm room carpet=fines) underneath my fabric and began printing! Squirt a little of your fabric paint onto your plate at a time and dip your stamp into it. I did one tester heart on a spare piece of cardboard to make sure my print would look good before I began printing.

You then can make them however close or far apart you'd like on your fabric. I chose to do them about a foot apart in staggering rows.

Once it is dry you can use it however you like! We plan on using ours for a cute valentines activity next week! Stay tuned!





Once again, we'd love to know if you are trying our DIY's! Feel free to message us if you are having trouble or send us pictures of your finished projects! You can leave a link in a comment, tag us on facebook (@eplusl), or mention us in a tweet on twitter (@epluslblog)!

-l.

We weren't quite sure what to call this craft of ours because it can have so many fun uses, so I suppose heart print fabric will have to do the trick. Our original intention was for it to be a cute table cloth for your "at home Valentines day date", but it could also work for so many other things, such as a tapestry, a photo back drop, fabric to make clothing out of, and so on! Here is how to make it:

You'll need: An old bed sheet (or other fabric), an apple, red fabric paint, a paper plate, a knife, an iron & ironing board and something to protect your work surface. 

I started by preparing my old bedsheet. My queen size bedsheet was a little to large to be an actual table cloth, unless of course you'd like to not be able to find your table under the mass of fabric, so I cut it in half. Of course if you are just using fabric, you could skip this step. I then folded the cut edge in a half inch and another half inch, ironed and sewed it to create a new hem.

Once my fabric was ready, I took my apple and cut off a third of it from one side and carved a heart into the larger piece (you may eat the other chunk). This apple becomes your stamp for making your heart print.

Now that your stamp and your fabric are ready you can start printing! I laid out my fabric on some old cardboard (painted on dorm room carpet=fines) underneath my fabric and began printing! Squirt a little of your fabric paint onto your plate at a time and dip your stamp into it. I did one tester heart on a spare piece of cardboard to make sure my print would look good before I began printing.

You then can make them however close or far apart you'd like on your fabric. I chose to do them about a foot apart in staggering rows.

Once it is dry you can use it however you like! We plan on using ours for a cute valentines activity next week! Stay tuned!





Once again, we'd love to know if you are trying our DIY's! Feel free to message us if you are having trouble or send us pictures of your finished projects! You can leave a link in a comment, tag us on facebook (@eplusl), or mention us in a tweet on twitter (@epluslblog)!

-l.

Nutty Heart Brownies

To continue the Valentine's day theme, I present heart shaped brownies! I've been striking gold when it comes to finding heart shaped pans in every shape and size when I'm not even looking for them in the first place. I found three different ones just when I was home over Christmas Break!

These are some dense brownies. Dense delicious brownies. I've always loved Sprouted Kitchen, and when they posted this brownies recipe I thought it the perfect time to try out my newly thrifted heart shaped pan. I decided to add nuts in mine, along with changing the vanilla extract to almond to complement the nuttiness.

You need:
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
a pinch of salt
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, walnuts and almonds)

Preheat your oven to 350°. Line your hearts (or an 8 in pan) with parchment paper and grease it lightly. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add in your chopped chocolate, stirring until it is completely melted.

Remove it from the stove and add in the almond extract and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add everything else except for the nuts, and stir until it becomes smoother. Stir in nuts.

Pour into your pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes. (More like 20 if you are making hearts).

The hearts were so big for such hearty brownies that they were perfect to split between two people. Perfect for Valentines day, I might say. ;)

original post here

-e

Also, we've been nominated on Apartment Therapy for Best Home Project & DIY blog! If you could take a minute to go vote for us, it would be so appreciated! You have to sign up for an account, but it takes a total of maybe 30 seconds. Maybe. You'll have to scroll pretty far to the bottom of the list, but we're on there, we promise. Thanks so much everyone!

To continue the Valentine's day theme, I present heart shaped brownies! I've been striking gold when it comes to finding heart shaped pans in every shape and size when I'm not even looking for them in the first place. I found three different ones just when I was home over Christmas Break!

These are some dense brownies. Dense delicious brownies. I've always loved Sprouted Kitchen, and when they posted this brownies recipe I thought it the perfect time to try out my newly thrifted heart shaped pan. I decided to add nuts in mine, along with changing the vanilla extract to almond to complement the nuttiness.

You need:
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
a pinch of salt
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, walnuts and almonds)

Preheat your oven to 350°. Line your hearts (or an 8 in pan) with parchment paper and grease it lightly. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add in your chopped chocolate, stirring until it is completely melted.

Remove it from the stove and add in the almond extract and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add everything else except for the nuts, and stir until it becomes smoother. Stir in nuts.

Pour into your pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes. (More like 20 if you are making hearts).

The hearts were so big for such hearty brownies that they were perfect to split between two people. Perfect for Valentines day, I might say. ;)

original post here

-e

Also, we've been nominated on Apartment Therapy for Best Home Project & DIY blog! If you could take a minute to go vote for us, it would be so appreciated! You have to sign up for an account, but it takes a total of maybe 30 seconds. Maybe. You'll have to scroll pretty far to the bottom of the list, but we're on there, we promise. Thanks so much everyone!

heart knee sock DIY

We have to admit, we both generally aren't the kind of people who get super into holidays. I think this blog might be changing us though... And to kick off our new selves we are having two full weeks of valentine-y goodness. We showed off our ability to throw together Valentines outfits yesterday, here is a cute Valentines craft for you to try.

We love fun printed tights and socks and loved the idea of making our own. Turns out, it is super easy to make heart knee socks! Here is how:

You'll need: the fabric of your choice, a pair of thigh high socks, embroidery floss, scissors, and a needle & thread.

Start by cutting two hearts out of your fabric, mine were about 3 inches by 3 inches.

Next you'll place them on the knee of your socks. Make sure that they are in the exact right place before you start sewing. You can pin them in place and put them on to test them out if you wish. 

Once you have your heart right where you want it, you can begin sewing around the outside. I slid a bit of cardboard between the two layers so that I wouldn't accidentally sew the two sides together. It helped a lot. Tie a knot and then you are done! So easy, right?

Once you are done you can wear them around in all your valentine-y adorableness, you can even match them to the fabric of your dress like we did for Erin. Doesn't she look so cute?

-l.

We have to admit, we both generally aren't the kind of people who get super into holidays. I think this blog might be changing us though... And to kick off our new selves we are having two full weeks of valentine-y goodness. We showed off our ability to throw together Valentines outfits yesterday, here is a cute Valentines craft for you to try.

We love fun printed tights and socks and loved the idea of making our own. Turns out, it is super easy to make heart knee socks! Here is how:

You'll need: the fabric of your choice, a pair of thigh high socks, embroidery floss, scissors, and a needle & thread.

Start by cutting two hearts out of your fabric, mine were about 3 inches by 3 inches.

Next you'll place them on the knee of your socks. Make sure that they are in the exact right place before you start sewing. You can pin them in place and put them on to test them out if you wish. 

Once you have your heart right where you want it, you can begin sewing around the outside. I slid a bit of cardboard between the two layers so that I wouldn't accidentally sew the two sides together. It helped a lot. Tie a knot and then you are done! So easy, right?

Once you are done you can wear them around in all your valentine-y adorableness, you can even match them to the fabric of your dress like we did for Erin. Doesn't she look so cute?

-l.

how to wear little prairie handmade: valentines edition

We're getting so excited for Valentines day! This is the kickoff post of our Valentines series, and a bombardment of pictures of us modeling some dresses Leah made for her shop Little Prairie Handmade.
















Heart back dresses are the perfect Valentines Day outfit, or just right for any day!

-e plus l

We're getting so excited for Valentines day! This is the kickoff post of our Valentines series, and a bombardment of pictures of us modeling some dresses Leah made for her shop Little Prairie Handmade.
















Heart back dresses are the perfect Valentines Day outfit, or just right for any day!

-e plus l