Valentine Mug Rugs for Two

Jeni Says:

Somehow I ended up with a day off on a Saturday. Most people would think this is fantastic... but I work on commission in a store that only has sales on the weekends. Good thing for me though.. we had the snow storm of the year today. When I say the Snow storm of the year... I mean the only one we have had this year... but it was pretty bad.
So, even though I had the kids home, I wanted to make sure I did something crafty, and blogged about it. I had to, Julie is getting ahead of me, and people are going to think it is only her blog!
So today I made a valentine version of a cute idea I once found on Martha Stewart's website. I will put the link to the page at the bottom of the blog, because they have great instructions, and I don't want to type them all out, when they are already written.

The original version look like slices of a tree trunk, and make a nice rustic addition to any table setting. I have been meaning to make them for ages. The ones I made, as you can see, are done in Valentine colours. I have also added the heart and initials as they might have been carved in a tree, to give them a nice romantic touch.

To make them, you will need to cut many 1/2 inch strips of felt. I started this morning with a pair of scissors, then headed out into the snow storm to buy myself a rotary cutter and mat (which, buy the way, are amazing totally worth the money). We got stuck behind someone who drove 40km/h the entire way (normally a 15 minute drive, and it took almost an hour) and bought the cutter.
Once the strips are cut, start rolling a white strip very tightly for the centre. Martha Stewart suggests using fabric, or craft glue, but I used a hot glue gun, as the fabric glue didn't seem to hold.
Alternate white and pink strips, making the white strips about twice as wide as the pink.

Keep going until your mat is big enough to hold a coffee or tea cup, and a cookie sized snack. Then add the red. Follow the instructions on Martha Stewart for this, you want it to look like bark.

Once you are done, and your glue is dry, add the design with fabric paint. I put J+S (Jeni and Scott) on one and a heart on the other, but you could do anything you like. I also think this would have been nicer done in red, if I had red paint.