Valentine's Week: Clothespin With a Secret Message

There are so many cute crafts for Valentine's Day that you can create with clothespins.  Here are a few of my favorites:

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These are all super adorable, but I fell in love with this next idea:

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I took that idea of a hidden message and created my own decorated clothespin with a secret message!

Believe it or not, I had never decorated a clothespin before.  I learned some things that may be helpful to you if this seems like a project you'd like to try:

• Clothespins are fairly rough.  A quick sanding with some sandpaper would have helped me have a smoother surface to work with.
• Clothespins are made from untreated wood.  It's a very porous surface.  I used a lot of markers and I found they just sunk into the wood and got that soft spidery look.  I sealed parts of the clothespin I had already colored with Matte Medium, and parts I hadn't with acrylic paint.  This was great!  It helped to seal the wood and allowed my pens and markers to doodle cleanly.
• I used deli paper for my inside heart.  Deli paper is translucent, so it means that the heart I doodled on the deli paper can be seen from both sides of the clothespin!  So there's no "right" or "wrong" side!

Clothespins Sharpie Waterbased Paint Marker Glossy Accents Dina Wakley Fine Line Applicator Sakura Pen Touch Permapaque Gelly Roll Moonlight Pens Liquitex Matte Medium Dina Wakley Brushes Golden Fluid Acrylics Deli Paper Westcott Detail Scissors

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I hope you'll give this project a try!  I think it's a super fun way to pass on some love to any of the special people in your life!

Thanks for stopping by!