heart craft

As I was walking around in the garden, I had this idea for a craft. I have all these beautiful dried flowers, seeds, and grasses and I would love to make something earthy and cute. Why not make a nest? And fill it with pretty little hearts? And call it…a love nest? :) It may be a little cheesy…but when I saw nothing like what I was envisioning in my online searches, I was determined to do it.

Love Nest

I originally planned to make a nest like those you see in the craft stores, and build it out of grapevine. But either the grapevine I have is too thick, or I didn’t prep it properly, it was really difficult to make a nest shape. I could have done it- with a lot of effort and wire- but I really didn’t want to spend that much time on it AND I thought, the birds can do it without wire, why can’t I? So I did a little searching online for making your own birds nest, and found a more common material to use is grass. So before the crazy snow/ice storm started last night, I grabbed a whole bunch of this grass to start my nest.

Miscanthus sinensis

This Miscanthus (I think) is dried out and has pretty tendril seed heads that are so fluffy. The grass has long, thin tendrils that came out very easily when pulled. Taking handfuls at a time, I twirled it and bunched it, and formed it into a wreath/nest like form. At this point, I did try to add some grapevines, but they ended up pulling the whole thing out more than keeping it bound together. After forming the base, I then started adding other interesting looking dried plants from the garden.

Dried Flowers

I think these little dried flowers may even be from a weed, but I’ll know better next summer.

Dried Flowers and Seeds

I just cut the stems short, and wove them into the nest around the outer edges. I kept going until I felt like it had enough.

Handmade Nest

I think it would have been nice to be a little tighter too- with not so many loose pieces sticking out. But this is supposed to be a quick and easy craft, and I’m getting over a cold so, loose it is! I was also going to make some little hearts to put into it. I thought some felt hearts would be soooo pretty, but I am also trying not to spend any money except on essentials right now. Felt is not an essential, so I started going through my scrap fabric. I have tons of scraps, and I found several candidates, but then I remembered some hearts I made years ago. They are a little on the big side, but I still think they are cute.