During our vacation out West last summer, my aunt and uncle hosted us for a couple of days in their beautiful Colorado home. I wanted to thank them with a handmade gift. I decided on a table runner because it would be quick but also useful.

I wanted to try a technique made popular by Nicole of Modern Handcraft. Instead of sewing the hexies to each other, you tack them down with fabric-friendly glue, then sew lines through all the points, on the diagonal. It's a kind of cheater's applique that ends up looking amazing in its own right.

I made the hexies from a charm pack of a fabric line called Barcelona, so they all played together perfectly. Then I pieced the background with strips from my stash.

My aunt and uncle were very appreciative of their gift, and I will always be grateful to them for showing us their corner of the gorgeous state of Colorado.

I tend to save match boxes because they are so darn cute and I always think maybe I'll make something out of them. And I finally did! I made Valentines for my co-workers. They are stinkin' adorable and easy. I will share my process so you can make some too.

If you want to create some valentines like these you will need:

1 paper matchbox, the kind with the outer sleeve and "drawer" that slides out
1 piece of small chocolate. I used Ghiradelli's mini squares
15" thin ribbon
15" string
decorative paper, cut down to 2" x 4 1/4"
contrasting decorative paper, cut down to 3/4" x 4 1/4"
two postage stamps, approximately the same size as each other
double stick tape or other adhesive
optional, little name tags (mine are Recollections brand, from Michaels)

First wrap the larger strip of paper around the sleeve of the matchbox. I used a tape runner (Memory brand, from Paper Source) as my adhesive. Next put adhesive on the skinny strip of paper and wrap it around. Both strips of paper should meet up on the bottom of the sleeve, so the ends aren't showing.

For the tiny card, I picked two postage stamps of about the same size, and carefully fed them through my sewing machine. This way they could open like a little card. If you don't have a sewing machine, I think writing on the back of one stamp would be just fine. If you don't have postage stamps on hand, trim down a piece of paper to roughly the size of the chocolate.

I tied the card to the chocolate with a length of string. Make a little bow and then trim off the excess.

Put the chocolate and card bundle into the drawer part of the matchbox, and slide it into the sleeve. Then use the ribbon to make a bow around the matchbox, and attach the nametag to the ribbon, if desired.

That's it! Not hard but very cute! Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day. xoxo

Modern Hexie Table Runner

Matchbox Valentines