Western Wall Hanging....One for the Guys

I made this for my son for Valentine's Day.

This is the continuing story of the 3 sad heart cut-outs from an old shelf I bought at a second hand store.

Yesterday I told you about my ugly shelf with the 3 sad-looking heart cutouts.  If you didn't read it, you can find it here.  If you don't want to go there, here is where I'm at on that project. 

The Ugly Shelf

The Sad Hearts

This was yesterday's finished heart.


I wanted to make my son something a little more guy-like for Valentine's Day. He is a lover of all things western , so I chose that as the theme for this project. I started out by painting the plaque brown.  I had saved the tops from his first pair of cowboy boots (you're not surprised are you?) and thought it would make a perfect back for the cut-out.  I added a star I cut out of some scrap suede and stuck a bead in the center of it.

After messing around with some different beads to put on the either side of the heart, I gave up because nothing looked right to me.  I headed for my box of stencils and sure enough....I had a stencil of a cowboy boot. Again, you're not surprised are you? After yesterday's stencil disaster, I didn't even attempt it....I just traced them and left them outlined with a Sharpie. I just reversed the stencil to make it look like a right and left boot. 

I still wanted to add some of those cool beads, so I found two turquoise one's that matched and glued them on the boot stencils.  I strung a few more through a piece of  leather stripping I had to make the hanger.

There ya go....Project #2 done and I haven't spent a dime yet on repurposing those 3 sad hearts.  Two down....one to go....stay tuned for tomorrow's update.