How to Make a Moss-Covered Heart

I love organic decor accessories and using nature to guide and enhance the Seasons and Holidays. I'm  also a fan of layering those natural organic pieces with mirrors and walls, doors and vignettes. Wreaths, faux flowers, branches, and natural elements can come together to create a one-of-a-kind Holiday Centerpiece for your room.

This little "How-To" on my Moss Covered Heart is a bit of a "refresh". I first made the original moss heart 2 years ago for Valentine's Day, but soon realized it could be used all through the year. I had seen many moss hearts made with a variety of elements, but finding a paper mache base made it much easier to construct, and actually turn out looking like a "heart".

My first  Moss Heart Tutorial was lacking photos of the actual process. (Having your hands coated with sticky white glue was a real inhibitor of photo taking.) I found another heart form at Hobby Lobby this last year, so I thought I'd try using a different moss product and see how this one would turn out. Plus I made a plan to take photos along the way.

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Instead of using loose moss, (which made it super messy) this time I found a roll of moss mat and cut around the form leaving plenty of room to mold it to the form.

Leave at least 3/4 of an inch all the way around the form.

Peel off the paper backing...

My first attempt was to try hot glue, but as you can see that just didn't work well. It started drying too quickly and I didn't have time to adjust the moss around the molded form. (and yes, it does look a little odd from this angle) This time I used Tacky Glue which is like a thicker form of Elmer's.

Once you've fitted the moss matting around the paper mache form, you can trim the mat closely to the edges. I cut "darts" like in sewing to allow for the proper fitting.

Then I used clothes pins to make sure that everything stayed well in place. I left this to dry completely for 24 hours, but you could give it a short time if you just are careful not to tug or move the moss matting.

After the clothes pins were removed I had a perfectly shaped moss puffy heart.

I have a Pinterest Board called Moss Covered Love, where I've collected some pics of the detailing on some of the moss hearts. Many of them used several layers of ribbon, thread, and twine to wrap around and corral the loose moss. I didn't really need to do this on the second heart, but I did do that with the first one I made, since I had used loose moss, not the matting.

I was out of the olive green organza ribbon this time around, so I am waiting to get some before I begin to decorate this second one. The ribbon, thread and jute gardener's twine, is just the organic look I love, so I will share this second heart with you as soon as I restock my ribbon.

Heavy Duty Green Thread

Gardener's Jute Twine

From the original tutorial:

"Then I rummaged through some of my loose florals and found a few rosebuds, hydrangeas, and ivy. I wanted it to look like Spring and Summer, but I also wanted to be able to change out the flowers with some Fall leaves and berries like my inspiration photo. I ended up just tucking the individual pieces into the ribbon and yarn wrapping. I think I'll be able to change them out without disturbing much of the moss."

I added some Valentine Ribbon last year to hang it from my antique mirror in the Kitchen Sitting Area. It's just held by some heavy tape, so when I want to use the heart for another season, I'll just redo the ribbon.

If you just tuck in your faux flowers and ivy into the twine and ribbon, you can easily remove them and change things up (with a different ribbon for any Holiday) I'm seeing something different coming for Spring.

Hope you all are out of the deep freeze. We had about a 1/3 inch of pure ice on us over the weekend. Thankfully, not so much as to break tree branches and bring down power lines, but still enough to cause slide offs on streets and Highways. We stayed in all weekend. Happy Valentine's Week!

xoxo,

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