Valentine Gift Ideas

Today I thought I’d tell you a little bit about my hand-painted hearts, my process and thoughts to give you an insight into things and let you know what goes into making them. They are all lovingly made with care and attention to detail, because my aim with everything I make is to provide something beautiful to brighten up someone’s day. I’m inspired very much by nature as nature and art have been shown to help with mental wellbeing.    


My hearts are all made from responsibly sourced birch wood and I hand paint each one individually with acrylics, both sides being decorated, which obviously means I have to wait for the first side to dry properly before I can paint the other side. (I once was too impatient and tried to paint the second side too quickly, which ended up in the paint getting smudged and stuck to the protective paper I had underneath it.)


With some of them, I know exactly how I’m going to achieve the effect I want, for example, this nature inspired one. 

I painted the background, then the grass, painted the wooden flowers separately, then glued them on. Also, my Kintsugi inspired heart was quite straight forward. 

 This was based on the Japanese concept of Kintsugi, where broken items are repaired with gold, giving them a web of golden lines all across the surface and in the process making them more valuable. We’ve all had broken hearts in one way or another which have had to be mended, or if not completely mended, glued back together. 


This purple one was another I really enjoyed making, with the different textures of the acrylic paint and the Prisme paint. The Prisme paint takes a whole day to dry properly, which means it takes two or three days to complete both sides, but it has a lovely sheen when it catches the light.

 One of the hearts that gave me more of a challenge, was the Steampunk inspired one. I had to decide how exactly I was going to position the painted cogs for the best effect, wait between each layer for them to dry to get the shaded look, and decide how best to position the metal cogs, which I attached after everything was completely dry.

 My vintage inspired heart also required more thought. It also has more elements to it and more work. A painted background to give it the appearance of faded paper, stamped and coloured rose and notes, all attached in decoupage style and the border painted to look like old letters. This one is single-sided, because if I did the same amount of work on both sides, it would be a bit more expensive!

I also make personalised hearts with a name of your choice hand written using pyrography. This is an example:

 The flowers are painted separately and attached, and it is varnished to protect the wood.


My favourite one to make is my turquoise heart with purple swirls and a jewel for a bit of shine.

 This needed a lot of paint mixing to get the right colours and accuracy for the swirls. It also has faint stamped writing which shimmers slightly in the light. 


Each heart measures 8cm x 8cm and is about 0.4 cm deep. They all have a ribbon attached to hang them up or they can simply be placed on a shelf. However they’re displayed, they would make a lovely gift or keepsake for a loved one. 


There are more designs available in my shop, along with all of these, which you can find here: etsy.com/uk/shop/rustyandboots


Some are ready for shipping, others I’ll need to make especially for you, but in any case, they take around two to three days to ship. 


There is also currently 10% off all items for a limited time, so get them while you can. Oh, and there’s free shipping in the UK!     


As always, you can find me on social media:


twitter.com/RustyandBoots

instagram.com/rusty_and_boots

pinterest.com/RustyandBoots

facebook.com/RustyandBoots


If you have any comments or questions, feel free to get in touch.

Valentine Gifts and a Story of Dwynwen

Here in Wales we have St Dwynwen’s Day on 25^th January. It has been described as the Welsh St Valentine’s Day, but I’ve found out that that isn’t quite correct because of what happened to Dwynwen.

There are two versions of the story, more or less the same, but this is the one I know.

Dwynwen was one of 24 daughters of King Brychan Brycheiniog. She loved a man called Maelon Dafodrill but when, before they were married, she rejected his advances, he became angry and left her. In her sadness and fear, Dwynwen prayed to God for help and Maelon was turned into a block of ice. For rejecting him, Dwynwen was granted three wishes.

First of all, she wished that Maelon would be thawed, second, she wished that her prayers on behalf of all true lovers be heard so that they either obtain those they love or be cured of the love, and third, she wished that she would never marry. Dwynwen became a nun and set up a convent on Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey.

The second version of the story is the same, except that her father had arranged for her to marry another prince, not Maelon. Dwynwen fled and begged God for help. An angel appeared and gave her a potion to forget Maelon, after which, he was turned into ice and Dwynwen was granted the three wishes.

The story was first written by Iolo Morganwg, an 18^th Century poet, antiquarian and literary forger, who most likely made it up. Dwynwen may well have been a real woman, though, as there are records of someone with that name in the genealogies of Welsh kings from around the 4^th Century. Her father, Brychan Brycheiniog was a semi-legendary figure and I think all stories come from some kind of truth, however small.

The name Dwynwen means “she who leads a blessed life” and, as well as being the Welsh saint of lovers, she is also the saint of animals.

The day itself has become more popular in recent years and can be celebrated whether you’re Welsh or not. The Welsh for “St Dwynwen’s Day” is “Dydd Santes Dwynwen”.

A little shameless promotion: if you’re looking for a gift or keepsake for someone for Dydd Santes Dwynwen or St Valentine’s Day, the hand-painted hearts in the photos here are available in my shop, currently with 10% off!  Rusty and Boots Shop

As usual, you can find me here:

instagram.com/rusty_and_boots

twitter.com/RustyandBoots

pinterest.com/RustyandBoots

facebook.com/RustyandBoots


If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me. Have a lovely St Dwynwen’s Day.