Valentine's Decor 2011

Because I like to read home decor blogs, I feel like everyone on Earth has had their Valentine's decor up for ages and that I'm totally slacking. Then I remember that most people don't really decorate for Valentine's day and I feel a little better. I have some stuff up, but there's still more that I want to do. If the past Halloween and Christmas were any indication, I'll probably decorate stuff right up until the holiday.

Honestly, I'm loving having discovered that I can do this. Pretty things make me happy. :)

Here's my mantel. I'll go from right to left to describe all the stuff up there and where I got it.

First are the candlesticks. You'll probably remember them from my Christmas stuff. I scored a set of three for seven dollars at Goodwill right before Christmas. It looked too crowded with all of them up there though, which is why you only see two here. The glass jar was a dollar at Goodwill. To fill it, I totally sat on the floor at Target and picked all the red and white gumballs from the bulk bin! Don't worry, I used the tongs!

The silver mirror was a three dollar Goodwill find. I hung some little game cards that I found at a local scrapbooking store from some string across the top. The big chalkboard I made! My mom found the frame in - you guessed it - a dumpster. It was gold but had no nicks or chips. I painted it white and then distressed it a little with a wood file and some Distress Ink. That's a little trick I picked up from Shelley at House of Smiths. Just rub the file (or sandpaper) on a few spots, then go over with the Distress Ink pad, and buff it out with your hand. It gives the finish a bit more dimension and is easier than using glaze.

I cut a piece of plywood to fit the frame and then gave it two coats of primer and two coats of chalkboard paint. I found the quote online and took an hour to get it on there the way I wanted it. That's right folks, that's my handwriting! I traced the boy's hands for this so he helped a bit. I love the way it came out, with the exception of where I forgot the U in Because. I didn't notice until everything was up and done, and no way I'm redoing it!

Finally there is the birdcage. It too came from the Goodwill. The wires were all smashed in on one side and bent really badly. It was only three bucks, and as soon as I made sure that all the wires were there still and that the wood parts were still intact, I knew it was coming home with me. It had this freaky fake bird inside along with some nasty fake leaves. I pulled those out, cleaned it, spray painted it, then aged it a little with a file and some Distress Ink.

The urn inside was a dollar at Goodwill. I filled it with some twigs and gravel from the yard. I cut a few hearts from glitter fun foam (I'm so addicted to this stuff right now!) and hung them from the twigs. This thing was a BEAST to get into that cage. The twigs were too tall, then the hearts kept getting knocked off, then I couldn't get the bottom to close without tipping the whole thing.

The books next to the cage were in my collection. I know the red one came from Goodwill, and the black one was my husband's before we met. I put a few Scrabble tiles up there and a little heart decoration that I made this afternoon. I just pleated some strips from on old dictionary, joined the ends together with hot glue to make the medallion, glued a glitter fun foam heart on top, and then added the banner. I aged a strip of cardstock with three different colors of Distress Ink and added a rub on I found in a drawer. It was the crappiest rub on in the history of rub ons, however, and a lot of it did not transfer. I ended up filling in the gaps with a black pen. I would have just used something else but the sentiment went with the chalkboard quote so perfectly I decided to make it work.

Here is the table by the front entry. Almost all of these little glass jars were from Goodwill! My sister in law gave me the large jar on the left and my mother in law gave me the lace edged cake stand. I actually found the plate and saucer to match it a couple weeks later. Best part was that they were open stock which means they were less than a buck apiece. I filled the bowl with some fake flowers because I couldn't think of what else to put in there and didn't want to buy more candy.

The large jar and the cake dome are filled with silver glitter ornaments from Christmas. I found these glitter heart picks at the Dollar Tree and just pulled the skewers from them so I could add them to the jars. I made the tassels on the two taller jars. They're just regular jars sitting on top of glass candlesticks! The little mercury glass votive holders were a dollar for all four, and the runner was two dollars.

The banner was made with some really old Basic Grey paper as the base. I topped it with brown cardstock that I ran through a border punch, some bits from a paper doily, and letters that I handcut from glitter fun foam. I embellished the letters with teeny heart brads, then tied all the flags together with silver ribbon.

Under the mini-cloche is one of the glitter hearts along with a Victorian cherub that I found online. I decorated it with some Stickles, then added the little envelope that reads "To My Valentine." I may have also picked out all of the conversation hearts that clashed with my decor, as well as the Pixy Sticks that didn't go. :)

Finally, I found some vintage Valentines online. I just love these things! They're so kitschy and cute. I printed out a bunch, decorated them with Stickles, cut them out and Scotch taped them to some string. I have some more that I'm going to hang on the other bookshelf too. I'm going to put the document on my Scribd account (page one and page two) so that if you'd like to use them you can just print them out too.

Love is in the air!

I'm linking this post to Domestic Fashionista's Valentine Link Party!