A Valentine's Clutch and Embroidered Cards

I'm thrilled to be joining in on the Imagine Gnats pattern tour this month. I chose to attempt my first embroidery project with this adorable Valentine Superhero embroidery pattern. There is both a girls' version and a cute little boy version (complete with X's over those hearts). So adorable.



I thought I'd attempt another first in making a clutch purse. I've always thought little clutches are just the cutest, and considering how perfect the Valentine's envelope was that I made last year for the kids to take to their Valentine's parties at school...I thought I'd make a fancier clutch version of a school Valentine bag.

But oops...I made it a bit too small to fit all the Valentine cards from kids at school so it will have to just be a fun little purse for them to play with.

The Imagine Gnat's embroidery pattern is easy to follow and understand. The design is given in the pattern along with each thread color and you are shown which stitch to use where. The specific stitches aren't taught in the pattern, but I would guess most people wouldn't need that. I did, however, since it was my first time attempting an embroidery pattern. But all of the instructions needed are included in tutorials on the Imagine Gnats site.

After finishing the embroidery, I needed to learn how to make the clutch. I fell in love with this big huge clutch hardware at JoAnn's and then used Caila Made's great tutorial on how to make your own clutch pattern.

Once I had a clutch I needed cute Valentines to put in it, right? I thought it would be fun to do some hand-stitched Valentine's. Emma wrote a heart and her name on a business card sized piece of cardstock. Then I traced over it with thread. I was hoping she'd be able to learn how to do this herself, but the cardboard was too thick and hard (even for me) to get the needle through the paper without bending it.

The cards are the perfect complement to these little tubes of colored gumballs I found at Sam's Club. I think these will be the perfect little Valentine's for my Kindergartner to give out this year.

I also found some plastic hearts at Michael's and took blunt needles and yarn then showed the girls how to sew around the heart. They did great and Isa will probably get to take those handmade Valentine's to her class party this year. (She started preschool last week!)

It's not too late to complete a cute little Valentine project for your little one. Grab the Imagine Gnat's Valentine Superhero embroidery pattern, and some fun items you can use to make special Valentines. I'd love to see what you make!