St. Day is approaching. Valentine is the day of all lovers. This means that it’s time to start making small gifts with your own hands.
I suggest you do homemade valentines with the aroma of coffee.
To do this you will need the following things and tools:
— coffee beans (for variety, you can add not only roasted, but also green beans);
- cardboard;
- pencil;
- brown paint and brush;
- scissors;
- silicone gun;
- glue (any suitable for gluing cardboard together);
- ribbon.
The first thing to do is draw hearts on cardboard with a pencil, and then cut them out along the lines.
If the cardboard is light, then cover its surface with brown paint.
When it has dried, then, if necessary, apply a second coat of paint. Now you need to wait for the paint to dry completely on all the hearts. This process can be speeded up by using a hairdryer.
You can start decorating the coffee.
To do this, take one heart, place it with the brown side up and carefully, step by step, grain to grain, glue the coffee beans to the cardboard using silicone. To reduce the formation of “strings”, silicone should be applied in a fully heated form with a small drop. We place the coffee beans themselves so that the strip dividing the beans in half faces upward. If you place the grains the other way around, you will then have to stick on a second layer, with the stripe facing up.
First, fill the outer part of the heart, all around the perimeter. We carefully ensure that there are no empty spaces.
And only after that we seal the inside. After a few minutes, when the silicone has completely dried, we remove the “strings” that have formed. Similarly, fill all the hearts with coffee beans.
The next stage is decoration.
Cut a small piece of tape, take two hearts with coffee and glue for cardboard (PVA or silicate is quite suitable).
Turn one heart over with the grains down, cardboard up, spread with glue and apply tape.
Now carefully place the second heart with coffee on top and press them together until they are completely glued.
If it turns out that the light cardboard is peeking out somewhere, you can paint it with the same paint that was used to open one side before gluing the coffee beans.
Fragrant coffee valentine, independently made by a loving person, will be the most pleasant gift for Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day is associated with something tasty and aromatic. If you have already chosen a gift for your other half, then you can add a coffee heart to it. It will not only pleasantly surprise you, but will also remind its owner of you for a long time, as it fills the room with a wonderful sweet aroma.
To make it you will need:
- white cotton;
- padding polyester;
- needle;
- white threads;
- template paper;
- scissors;
- cinnamon;
- ground coffee;
- vanillin;
- brush;
- PVA glue;
- napkins for decoupage;
- dark brown, gold, white paint;
- twine.
Fold the pattern paper in half. Draw half a heart at the fold. Here you can independently regulate the size of your heart.
We fold the fabric in two layers and trace the pattern with a pencil. We cut along the contour, making indents of 0.7 cm.
Additionally, you can fasten both layers with pins with eyes, but you can sew without them. We simply hold the fabric with one hand, and with the other we sew it with a stitch along the contour of the pencil. You can also sew on a sewing machine. Leave a 3 cm long hole unstitched.
We turn the workpiece outside and fill its middle with padding polyester.
Carefully sew the hole with very short stitches and proceed to the most interesting part of the master class.
Pour one stick of instant coffee into a cup, a teaspoon of cinnamon and pour boiling water over it. This solution should cool slightly and then pour a teaspoon of PVA glue into it. It is needed to make a surface for decoupage.
Mix the mixture thoroughly and cover the entire surface of the heart with a brush. Do this quickly so that the edges of the paint do not have time to dry and there are no clear transitions. Also make sure that the solution does not penetrate into the heart. Try to paint only the surface.
Rub the heart with vanilla and place it in the oven, preheated to 100 degrees for just 8-9 minutes. It will be a little lighter than when it came into the oven. But the color should still remain.
We will create an aging effect with brown paint. Let's completely paint the outline, and then fade the paint from there into the middle. The brush should be semi-dry. If it is inconvenient to work with a brush, then you can take a small sponge.
We also decorate the sides with gold paint, making small jerks. This paint should not cover the entire surface.
We will cover the places where the napkins for decoupage will be attached with a translucent layer of white paint. While the surface is drying, separate the napkin and tear off the desired designs.
After the paint has dried, apply PVA glue, attach napkins and cover the top with glue again.
It's no secret that on February 14, Valentine's Day, it is customary to give gifts that symbolize love and tenderness for our other half.
We will make an unusual Valentine's gift for all coffee lovers. I'll tell you how to make a magnet with your own hands in the shape of a heart decorated with coffee beans.
For work we will need:
- thick cardboard
- brown sealant or fabric (burlap)
- Moment-gel glue or glue gun
- magnet
- natural coffee beans
So let's get started:
First, we make a blank for the future magnet from paper and transfer it to cardboard, and then cut it out with scissors along the contour. You can immediately draw a heart on cardboard and cut it out.
Glue a magnet to the back of the cardboard heart blank.
On the front side I covered the workpiece with brown sealant (but you can do without it). Alternatively, the front side of the heart can be painted or glued with fabric, for example, burlap will look beautiful.
When the base is ready, use glue or a glue gun to begin gluing the grains.
Please note that the grains must be glued with the flat side up!
In principle, the fragrant magnet is already ready, but... Now the fun begins - decorating a refrigerator magnet with your own hands!
For decoration, you can use anything: dried orange, lemon, cinnamon sticks, star anise, jute rope, beads, etc.
Decorate the heart the way you like! Glue all decorative elements with glue.
Now the gift magnet is definitely ready! This heart will bring comfort and the alluring aroma of coffee beans, star anise and cinnamon sticks into your home.
I wish you great love,
Mutual, pure, strong and beautiful!
So that it grows in your soul,
And your life became happy!
Let this feeling make you happy
And it charges the soul with positivity!
Appreciate him and take care of yourself!
In love, be brave, kind, patient!
24 chosen
The world of topiary is large and diverse. Today topiaries are made from everything that comes to hand: from fresh and artificial flowers, ribbons, beads, seed beads, from cereals and pasta, napkins, shells, pebbles, dried flowers, nuts and their shells, even from vegetables and fruits (only such topiaries, unfortunately, are short-lived). Today I want to tell you about making a tree of happiness from coffee beans. But our tree will not be simple, but in the shape of a heart! After all, one of the most romantic holidays is just around the corner - Valentine's Day!
To work we will need:
- pencil;
- paper;
- cardboard;
- scissors;
- universal glue;
- piece of wire;
- brown paint;
- brush;
- coffee beans;
- ribbon or twine for decoration;
- alabaster (or plaster);
- pot (mug or any container where you want to “plant” your tree of happiness).
Option #1
“Forming the crown” of topiary.
Draw a heart of the size we need on paper (suitable for the selected pot), cut it out. We transfer our template to cardboard and cut out two parts.
It should be remembered that the diameter of the pot should not exceed the size of the crown.
"Trunk" of topiary.
As a “trunk” you can use a regular pencil (for a small topiary), any twig or plastic tube of the required diameter, you can also take wooden kebab skewers glued together, a piece of wire or wire (if you want a twisted trunk). I chose a piece of wire. We twist it in a spiral, cut it in half by about 4 cm on one side and bend it, as shown in the photo - for a stronger grip. Having placed the “trunk” between two cardboard blanks, we glue them together.
Add volume.
To add volume to the “crown” of the topiary, we evenly glue the heart on both sides with cotton pads (or crumpled napkins) and wrap it with any thread to secure it. Paint the resulting heart with brown paint and leave to dry for about 12-24 hours.
Let's start decorating.
We cover the entire “crown” with coffee beans (you can use 2 layers), and then everything depends on your imagination. I wrapped tape around the trunk, fixing each turn with glue (you can replace the tape with twine or yarn). I covered the pot (in my case, a sugar bowl) with lace and ribbon, and “planted” a lace butterfly on the heart.
We “plant” a tree.
For better fastening of the tree in the “ground”, I cut the end of the wire and bent the ends in different directions - we got some kind of “roots”.
Now we dilute the alabaster (or gypsum) with water to the consistency of thick sour cream, pour it into the prepared pot and “root” our tree. Let it harden. We paint the frozen alabaster brown and cover it with coffee beans.
Coffee topiary is ready!
Option No. 2
We make a composition of two hearts using the same principle, only to give volume to the hearts of this shape, instead of cotton pads, I decided to use paper towels. We crumple them and glue them to both sides of the “crown” and tie them with threads.
We wrap one heart with beige yarn, the other with brown yarn. Let's decorate.
SHE HAS red roses and a scattering of beads in her hair.
HE has a black bow tie and the key to HER heart.
Coffee VALENTINES. Master classes on tinting and decorating methods from Tatyana Zueva
Coffee VALENTINES. Master classes
For this process you will need:
- instant coffee (the cheapest, granulated or powder - it doesn’t matter, except that Pele coffee gives a darker shade of tint)
- ground cinnamon
- vanillin (not vanilla sugar)
— “Karkade” tea
- cocoa powder
- boiling water 
And also brushes (or a foam sponge, I prefer synthetic flat wide brushes), paper towels (napkins) and the tinting objects themselves - that’s 3 hearts. 
1. COFFEE TINTING:
Place 1 full tablespoon of instant coffee in a cup.
add a little cinnamon. Here we proceed from our preferences, I love the smell of cinnamon, so I put almost a third of a teaspoon.
Fill it all with about 50 ml of boiling water. Mix well and let cool slightly. Until warm. 
In a separate container, put 1 full tablespoon of PVA (I use construction grade, quite thick).
Literally, one spoon at a time, begin to add the coffee-cinnamon solution, stirring thoroughly until smooth.
After the first portion of coffee has been successfully dissolved in PVA, add a new one: 
and mix well again. When the PVA and coffee become a fairly liquid substance, boldly pour the rest of the coffee mixture into a jar and finally knead. 
In fact, the amount of PVA directly affects the hardness of the surface being tinted (more PVA means a harder surface, less PVA means a softer surface). Different toys use different “hardness” of tinting. Everyone establishes it for themselves experimentally.
In our case, the tinting hardness turned out to be medium. For further decoupage, craquelure and painting - that’s it!
We take one heart and a brush and start tinting. 
If someone wants to make a toy with an “attic” look, with spots and streaks, they can omit the next point. But if you want to get a uniform tint, then try to dye only the fabric with the solution, not allowing the padding to get wet. To do this, lightly press the brush with the tinting solution onto the edge of the jar.
If you do get the fabric very wet, don’t despair; immediately blot the excess thoroughly with a paper towel. And in general, during the tinting process, from time to time blot and gently rub the tinting solution over the surface with this towel, thus drying your workpiece and, at the same time, evening out the color of the toy: 
Look how matte, smooth and uniform the tinting is obtained using these simple techniques. In addition, you need to keep in mind that you should not be distracted during tinting and interrupt the process so that the borders of the tinted and not yet painted surface dry out. This can also lead to streaks and uneven coloring of the toy.
Well, did you color the heart? Now dry it again with a paper towel and rub with vanilla! 
Mmmm... it smells so good!
Looking ahead, I will say that the aroma of coffee with cinnamon, and even in combination with vanilla, is the brightest and most persistent of all odors.
2. TINTING WITH HIBISCUITS TEA
For this, a fairly large “bunch” (the more tea leaves, the richer the color of the toy will be) of dried Sudanese rose flowers
pour a small (about 50 ml) amount of boiling water, and “trample” our tea leaves into the boiling water. We insist. 
We pour table 3 into a separate jar. spoons of coffee toning and pour in the hibiscus tincture, stirring. We determine the color of the solution based on our own preferences (lighter, richer... to your taste). I settled on this color: 
I tint in the same way as the first heart, with blotting and rubbing:
Rub with vanilla 
3.CHOCOLATE TINTING:
Place 1-1.5 table in a small cup. l. cocoa,
pour a very small amount of boiling water (20-25 ml), stir, let cool slightly. The result is a solution of medium thickness. 
Pour a little (3-4 tsp) of the first (coffee) tint into a separate container...
... and add cocoa solution to it. We determine the color of the mixture as desired.
In this photo you can compare the color A of coffee and chocolate tints. 
We tint the third heart and rub it with vanilla.
and we put them in the oven to bake...
Because As a result of the manipulations performed (drying with paper towels and rubbing with vanilla), our hearts are not wet, but only slightly damp, then we safely place them on a napkin or baking parchment. Set the oven heating temperature to approximately 80, but not higher than 100 degrees (this is important, otherwise the workpieces may burn!).
If there is, we turn on the blowing function; if there is no such function, we simply open the door. And we dry the preparations until they are completely dry and have a “crust” feel, especially on the coffee heart.
During the drying process, it is recommended to turn our hearts over so that they dry evenly.
You can dry the “coffee boxes” in the air, on a radiator, or even with a hairdryer. But I like it in the oven.
After a few minutes, we take out our finished “pies”. 
They look a little paler than BEFORE baking, but nevertheless the colors are very nice! The baked “crust” (due to the presence of PVA) becomes a little hard, but the filling becomes softer.
Collage - to compare the brightness of colors BEFORE and AFTER baking. 
Now we can sand our toys a little. In this case, the surface immediately turns from rough to “suede”.
We take skin No. 2000 (very fine),
three without effort, with light circular movements. 
A side effect of the skin is that the stuffing hairs come out. I usually roll them with dry hands, and I simply cut the stubborn ones with scissors at the very surface of the toy. 
We “comb” the fringe on one of the hearts with a thick needle: 
4. “TASTY” TINTING):
The girls from the Toy School forum called this tint “delicious.” This tinting not only looks beautiful, but also creates additional visual volume for the toy. And it even masks some coffee tint defects.
It's simple. To create the “deliciousness” we will need:
- bristle brushes;
I have two sizes: larger ones for tinting large surfaces, and small ones for tinting small parts. A large brush was bought at a hardware store; of all the construction brushes, it is probably the smallest, in any case, I chose just such a small one. In addition, it has uneven bristles, so the tinting is more airy. I like!
- brown acrylic paint. I took this one because I liked the color - chocolate, very warm, not very dark. In general, what you need!
- gold acrylic paint;
By the way, everything was bought at the same hardware store. Much cheaper than the artistic ones, and such a jar lasts a long time. You can, of course, also use artistic ones. But “if there is something cheaper, why pay more?”
- well, and actually, an object for improvement, I have this heart from a bag of imperfections. Until I come up with a decor for him, let him serve as a guinea pig.
The heart has already been toned with a coffee-cinnamon-PVA solution, dried in a convection (fan) oven at a temperature of 80-100 degrees and sanded with very fine sandpaper (No. 2000) to give it a velvety feel.
Also, prepare a sheet of paper on which we will “trace”, in the sense of leaving traces, i.e. adjust the amount of paint for tinting.
For this case, I recommend using paper that does not have a high degree of absorbency, then you will understand why.
I took a sheet from a large notebook. It is smooth, not loose, but not glossy either. 
Well, are you ready? Go.
Dip the tip of the brush into a can of brown paint.
We collect a little paint, something like this: 
And we immediately begin to beat off the excess paint on the paper, going down the sheet below, to see when the required amount of paint remains on the brush. Hold the brush vertically and hit the paper with the end of the brush.
The photo shows that the lower we go, the rarer the brush marks become. 
This photo shows that I am already satisfied with the result, so the “painting” is finished.
Now, in the same way as on paper, we swab the surface of the toy with a brush, starting from the seams. Those. we simply “poke” it along the seam with a brush.
Due to the unevenness of the bristles, nearby surfaces are slightly grabbed. We go from top to bottom, back, again from top to bottom, achieving a beautiful color transition.
Try to have thicker paint on the seam, and the paint gradually disappears towards the center of the product. 
If the paint on the brush has run out, before dipping it into the jar again, take the paint from the top of the sheet. Not only will you save paint by doing this, but it also lies on the sheet in a thin layer, which makes it easier to “brush off” excess paint. That's why we used non-absorbent paper!
Here you go. This way we went around the entire outline of the heart. It looks like this: 
Don’t be upset if small blots have formed somewhere - we will “muffle” them now.
The main thing is that there are few of them and they are located as close to the seam as possible.
We do the same thing as with brown paint with gold: 
This is what it looked like before the gold tinting. 
And what happened after:
I repeat: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THIS MATTER IS THAT THERE IS VERY LITTLE PAINT ON THE BRUSH AND THAT IT LEAVES VERY LIGHT TRACES!
THIS WILL GIVE THE TINTING THE NECESSARY LIGHTNESS, AS WELL AS “SPATTERY”.
Well, it seemed to me that I went a little overboard with gold (but look how the blots are camouflaged!).
Again I dip the brush in brown paint, and lightly brush over the gold with brown paint again.
Then, if necessary, you can go through more gold. And so on several times until we get the desired color and effect. 
I usually alternate between brown and gold three or four times.
DURING THE TINTING PROCESS, DO NOT FORGET TO GO A LITTLE FROM THE SEAMS TO THE BODY OF THE TOY, OBTAINING SMOOTH TRANSITIONS. 
And the result: 
You can also make this mix instead of subsequent layers:
combine some brown and gold paint on paper. And with this golden-brown mixture (not forgetting, again, to thoroughly remove the excess paint from the brush), we apply the final layer of tinting. 
So we got our “delicious” tint.” Beautiful, is not it?
In the last photo, traces of brown paint are slightly noticeable on the heart. I usually don't allow them. And they can be easily “removed” by subsequent light “spraying” of gold. It was just a little inconvenient to simultaneously tint with the right hand and take step-by-step photos for MK with the left.
Here, on the heart, in principle, only three layers were made: brown paint, then golden, then golden brown.
As I already wrote, in my works I make at least 7-8 layers, achieving a beautiful color and transition.
That's all for tinting.
NOW DECORATION...
DECOUPAGE:
For decoupage, I chose the darkest heart – chocolate.
In general, decoupage, especially napkin decoupage, is not always clearly visible on colored surfaces. And the darker the surface on which we glue a fragment of decoupage, the less visible it is on this surface.
But what if we want to paste a motif to match the main background?
Today I will show you one of the options for decoupage on a dark surface, when the pattern of a small fragment is very clearly visible.
To work we need:
- the object that we want to decoupage (in this case, a heart)
- glue for decoupage (I have a special glue for decoupage on textiles)
- white paint (I use it for fabric, but this is not necessary, you can use regular acrylic paint, just not for batik!)
- napkins with the desired pattern.
Carefully tear out the necessary fragments from the napkin... 
and try them on the heart:
If we are satisfied with the size and number of fragments, we thinly outline them with a simple pencil directly on the surface of the heart. 
We separate the top layer (with the pattern) from the three-layer napkin, and we will glue it. 
In order for the design applied to a thin layer of napkin to be clearly visible, it is better to stick it on a light background. To do this, we apply white acrylic paint to the places of future stickers, slightly going beyond the contours of the outlined fragments. The white color should be richer in the center, and very “light” towards the edges. 
The paint can be applied with a foam sponge (a piece of sponge) or with a brush, starting from the center of the contour radially to the edges, creating the illusion of a light cloud. The brush should be semi-dry so that the edges of the “cloud” do not have clear outlines. The first layer may (and most likely will) not be too white. We'll fix this a little later. This is what it looks like for us: 
Let the paint dry.
Let’s “whiten” the base for decoupage a little more: tint the center of the “cloud” with another layer of paint, without going to the edges. This can be done with a brush or sponge (as in the photo below). 
Again, we use not a lot of paint, so that there are no streaks or unevenness on the surface of the heart. Let's dry it.
On the back side of the heart we make the same “cloud”. Then we’ll decide how we’ll decorate it...
This photo shows one coat of paint. 
and here - we go through it a second time - we finish painting - “whitewash”: 
We place the napkin motifs on the dried paint, smooth it out so that there are no wrinkles, and begin gluing.
To do this, dip the brush in the glue and carefully apply it to the fragment using movements from the center to the edge, carefully expelling air bubbles from under the napkin. We do not put any effort into this so as not to tear the thin layer of the napkin. 
We make sure that the fragment does not move during gluing (to avoid wrinkles). It is better not to go beyond the boundaries of the “cloud” with a brush, so that traces of glue do not remain on the fabric, this can spoil the appearance of the product. 
And here it is, the result of our labors.
In my opinion, it turned out interesting, and most importantly, the decoupage pattern is clearly visible.
You can glue a fragment from another napkin, for example, with notes, onto the second side of the heart. Or you can draw the notes yourself. Just like it is shown in the photo. 
We draw with a thin helium pen. 
...And-and-oh, I’m kind of excited today!!! I wanted to “chocolate” the heart a little more along the seams with brown paint - for even more volume and “appetizing”. We use “tasty tinting” techniques. 
At the same time, I brushed a little along the contours of the “clouds” with a dry brush. 
Our heart “MELODY OF LOVE” is ready!
CRAQUELURE:
In addition to decoupage, you can also make craquelure on textile toys. And now I will show you a version of single-phase craquelure using the example of a pink heart. 
For work we will need:
- two contrasting acrylic paints (I have cherry and white),
- varnish for single-phase craquelure (I have a jar from the Decola craquelure set), but you can use any varnish for single-phase craquelure,
- flat synthetic brushes,
- object of decoration
Single-phase craquelure is made using acrylic paints of two colors and a layer of varnish, which “cracks” the top layer of paint. The color of the lower layer is visible through the cracks of the top paint, so it is better to choose contrasting paints so that the cracks are more noticeable.
IMPORTANT POINT: paints from the “metallic” series can only be used for the bottom layer (base), because when used “on top” they do not “crack”.
Well, let's get started.
We cover the surface intended for decoration quite thickly, without gaps, with a background color (in this case cherry). Let it dry for about an hour (you can speed up the drying process with a hairdryer), until completely dry. 
After the background layer has dried, apply a layer of craquelure varnish.
ATTENTION! A few IMPORTANT points:
1. Apply the varnish using a wide flat brush IN ONE DIRECTION. Alternatively, use a foam sponge.
2. You can only varnish the same place ONCE!
3. The size of the cracks depends on the method of application and the thickness of the varnish layer (as well as the thickness of the top layer of paint): when applying varnish with a brush, and with a “thick” layer, the cracks will be larger and less frequent than when applying varnish with a sponge!!!
Since this heart is small, we will not make large cracks. That's why I use a foam sponge to apply the polish. 
Dry for at least half an hour (or speed up the drying process with a hairdryer).
Now comes the fun part.
Using a brush with white paint, apply the second, finishing layer. We also work with the brush in one direction.
DO NOT OVERLAY layers of paint!
Those. we place paint strokes next to each other, without overlapping one another 
Do you remember that the SIZE OF CRACKS ALSO DEPENDS ON THE THICKNESS OF THE PAINT LAYER? The thicker the paint layer, the larger the cracks!
Almost immediately they appear on the surface of the paint, our long-awaited cracks 😉 
Let the top layer of paint dry.
Hmmm...we got sharp boundaries of color transition... 
We arm ourselves with a bristle brush, and with the already familiar movements, using a semi-dry brush (see MK on “tasty” tinting) we carefully even out the color transitions. At the same time, we try not to “clog” the resulting craquelure cracks with white paint. 
Oops, did I overdo it? The heart, it seems, turned out to be very “snowy”...
I'll try to correct the situation with cherry paint: 
Well, this is more fun... 
We complete the decor: on one side we draw... a cherry heart with highlights, 
and on the other, glue a small rosette of a suitable color. 
Our craquelure heart is ready!
I decorated the third, coffee heart, very simply:
First I tinted it a little with a dry brush and brown paint along the seams and ends of the fringe: 
And then, using contours on the fabric and gel “with a pearl effect,” I made an inscription and drew hearts: 
On the other side I pasted an angel and stars,
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