How To Make A Heart Shaped Valentine's Day Magnet: A Craft Made Out of Plastic Canvas Mesh

If you enjoy making crafts then this special Valentine's Day hub is for you. In this hub I will show you how to make a cross stitched heart shaped magnet, which is a pretty nifty way to put a love note on the fridge for your paramour. Just imagine your significant other getting up on Valentine's Day to see a lovely note on the fridge with this nifty heart shaped magnet keeping it in place. You can make one of these heart shaped magnets for your kids, your mom, your aunts, your friends, so this would be the perfect homemade gift for anyone on a Valentine's Day budget. The materials needed for this project include:

• A plastic mesh canvas.
• A cross stitch needle.
• Enough red yarn to complete this project.
• A small heart shaped box of chocolates to use as the template for tracing.
• Scissors for cutting the yarn and plastic canvas.
• A black marker for tracing the heart shaped box.

For this cross stitch project I will be using plastic canvas mesh. I decided to use the sheet I had already used for my candy cane cross stitch project since there was still room left this sheet of mesh.

Personally I love Valentine's day candy, so I tend to collect heart shaped boxes and have been wondering how I could use these. After creating my candy cane cross stitch project I decided I would like to make more of these projects for other holidays. Finally I came up with the great idea of using a heart shaped chocolate box as the template for tracing onto the plastic canvas mesh. You can also draw the heart onto the plastic mesh free hand, but I like the symmetry of the heart shaped box and decided to use this for the project.

I used a black marker to trace around the chocolate heart shaped box two times until I find the exactly perfect shape that I wanted for this project. Thus, when you look at my heart you can see the tracing of another heart on the plastic canvas. The cross stitching will cover up all of the marker lines once the piece is completed.

Start cross stitching at the bottom of the heart shape. At this time you can decide to use a different color of yarn besides red, but I love the impact of a solid red heart for this project.

Continue cross stitching up the length of the heart and you will soon find how addicting this can be! I love to cross stitch as I am watching programs on television, which helps to keep my mind somewhat engaged and attentive. The repetitive motion of cross stitching is also soothing and helps me to stop worrying about things that are on my mind. Watch before your eyes as the cross stitch heart begins to take shape.

Here is a video tutorial I created that will give you more ideas about how to make a heart shaped cross stitched magnet.  If reading is not your thing then watch the video to get a few ideas. 

Adding two magnets to the back of the heart will turn this cross stitched piece into a fridge magnet. Take a roll of magnetic tape and cut off two pieces to attach to the back of the heart. Peal the tape off of the back of each magnet and place the sticky side on the back of the heart. I placed the magnets on the back of the cross stitched heart because there are bumps on the back from adding new thread. Although I am pretty good a cross stitching at this point and it looks neat on both the front and the back, I just prefer to have the more uniform side facing up.

If you would rather watch a video demonstration check out the tutorial I made below on how to attach magnets to the heart.

The heart magnet can be used to display a special letter or picture that you drew for your loved one, which is a great budget idea for a Valentine's gift. Your spouse, mother, sister, niece, or friend will be touched by the handiwork and thought put into this piece, which is something you can never buy at the mall. Enjoy making your Valentine's cross stitch heart and experiment by making changing the design to suit your personal taste.