Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Valentine's Day Ideas

I know it's still a little early for Valentine's Day, but to be honest, I put my Valentine's decorations up right after I took the Christmas stuff down. The house looked so bare and sad that I felt like it needed a little something to cheer it up! Here's some of what I used:




I like to use our entertainment center as a "mantle" and put up a nice little display. Sometimes this can be a little frustrating for Nathanael because then he has to navigate around all of the decorations to get to any of the electronics equipment... whoops! He's sweet about it, though, and lets me keep putting stuff up.

The felt topiary balls are ones I made for the Valentine's banquet at our church in Arizona last year (I used this tutorial). They're time consuming to make, but I think the result is beautiful!

 I had to include our wooden turtle in the middle of all the Valentine's decorations. Doesn't he look happy? ;) The "painting" is a song from Lord of the Rings that I painted onto a canvas (also for the Valentine's banquet last year). Nathanael is a LOTR fan, so I used that song as a little tribute to him since he was in Afghanistan last year and couldn't go to the banquet with me.




Another one of the felt topiaries. The pots that the topiaries are sitting in are just plastic planters from the dollar store that I spray painted with metallic paint. They turned out really nice, in my opinion! This cake stand/ punch bowl has come in really handy. I've used it in pretty much every centerpiece I've had on our table since we moved here.



I made this light garland last year when Nathanael was deployed. Last year, I had little hearts with the number of days until he came home hanging on it. This year, I'm so glad that I don't have to do that! I can just hang the lights as a garland! I made these cutting out strips of fabric like these:


Then I tied them onto a light strand one at a time. I tried to have a pattern of different fabrics, but that's not really necessary (for someone who doesn't have OCD, anyway) as long as you don't clump up one color too much. Here's a close-up of how it looks:


I have to be honest, this project took a looooonnng time (several hours), but it was well worth it! I haven't thought ahead to what will happen when the lights go out... Maybe I'll just use it as a garland then, instead of untying all those scraps. 




I also have little hearts made out of scrap booking paper taped on walls over the house (cutting them out was one of the times I definitely wished I had a Cricut!). I think they add just a little bit of whimsy and fun to the decorations I keep up year round.



I have lots more projects I want to try, but I'm not sure I'll actually get them all done. You can check out my Pinterest boards to see lots of ideas of cool Valentine's projects!

I hope everyone is having a great January! Remember to keep working on the goals you set for yourself for the new year- don't give up! ;)

                                                                                                 

P.S. I'm participating in a link-up party on Keeping up with the Cantelmo's, so make sure you head over there to check out all of the great Valentine's Day ideas!




Keeping up with the Cantelmos

7 comments:

  1. everything looks so cute!! by the way I wish I had a Cricut also!! :) Great job!!

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  2. yay thanks for joining our vday hop! Everything looks great!

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    1. Thanks for putting it together- I've already found several things I want to try!

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  3. Oh I love the garland! I am thinking of making something with just ribbon on some twine to hang on our mantle. I wish we had lights though- how romantic! Cute ideas! So glad you get to have your husband home this year! We are on Valentine's Day #3 apart- it will be so awkward to finally be together for our first one (hopefully) next year!

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    1. It's definitely great to have him home this year! I saw that you're on Pinterest and I love your military board! Please thank your husband for his service and thank YOU for standing behind him!

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