Valentine Garland

Valentine's day normally doesn't get much love in my house. My husband hates it and is really, really bad at it and so I don't really do much for it. However, now that I have a kid, I enjoy decorating for holidays because she gets so much joy out of it.

I was brainstorming, trying to come up with simple, inexpensive decor for Valentine's Day and this was my first thought.

I bought a few sheets of love/Valentine themed scrapbook paper. I already had the yarn, paper punches and glue stick on hand.

This really is an easy project...

Punch all your shapes out of the paper...

I used my thrift store tray to contain all the little pieces of paper.

I cut yarn the length of two arm spans so a little over 10 feet (I know, scientific, right?) and just sandwiched my yarn between two hearts or two circles.

A glue stick is perfect for this project because you get an almost instant bond and it really holds.

I didn't care too much about the distance between hearts. I was trying to keep it kind of imperfect :)

I hung them from my curtain rods and sort of swagged them. Good enough for me!

They add the perfect little bit of color and are sweet without being sickening.

On another note, I mentioned waaay back here that I was going to be making new curtains for my living and dining room area. I'm going to let you in on a little secret - I'm a procrastinator. Big time. Anyway, those curtains are high on my list of projects for 2011. I know a lot of bloggers posted their project lists several weeks ago but in true procrastinator fashion, I haven't. I'll do it soon, I swear. I'm thinking that posting my list will help keep me accountable for getting these projects done!

I still have two more simple Valentine projects to post for you and I promise I won't procrastinate on those!

All You Need Is Love...

Also known as the world's easiest Valentine's Day project :)  Seriously. Easy. It took me less than five minutes from start to finish.

I printed my phrase (I'm a big Beatles fan) in two different fonts and formatted it so I would be able to embellish the area between the sentences. I then used a red marker to write over and highlight the words love.

I then added a heart and circle I punched out for another Valentine's Day project I'll be showing you soon.

And put it in a simple frame.



 Add a simple lamp and pretty red votive holder and you've got a super easy, pretty arrangement!

 

I've got a few more Valentine's projects that I'm so excited to show you. The most exciting part of it all? They are all so incredibly easy!

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day? What is your favorite Valentine craft?



In the Navy...

I've never really been a fan of blue.  Not that I don't like the color, I just favor green.  However, for some reason I've really found myself attracted to blue lately.  Last fall I found a photo online of these beautiful drapes from Pottery Barn and fell in love with the fabric.

(Recognize it?)

As much as I loved the drapes, I did not love the price tag.  These were $79.99 each for the 84 inch panels.  I started searching ebay on a regular basis and found five yards of the fabric itself for $80 +shipping.  Awesome deal.

Anyway, back to the point.  Blue.  These have a good deal of navy blue in the pattern.  Here is a pic of the bedding in the same pattern - you can see the pattern better:

Love it!  I made some simple drapes for my bedroom - when I say simple, I mean SIMPLE! I just finished the edges with a straight stitch and didn't bother with a pole pocket because I prefer using clips. I wouldn't have even had to sew, I could have used Stitch Witchery but I didn't feel like shelling out the (few - this is really inexpensive) extra bucks for it.  

Anyway, my master looks pretty much complete but I'm just not happy with it. There are a few little touches I really want to get right before I can consider it "complete".

I've been looking for the perfect (but inexpensive) lamps for our nightstands. Our wall color is dark so I really want something that will lighten (pun intended!) the room up. Currently, I'm using some oil-rubbed bronze finish table lamps with cone shades that I really don't like. Really they were just supposed to be a temporary stand-in but they've been there for six months or so. I've been considering silver leafing them and picking up some great light drum shades but I just can't make up my mind.

Last night I was at Target and found some beautiful lamps that I fell in love with!

Excuse the poor cell phone pics - I don't typically travel with my camera ;)  These blue bases are the perfect color - they're not a true navy, they almost have a little cobalt. I really, really love them but with my dark walls, I'm afraid they would be too dark. See those shades though? They're white with navy ribbon - love them. 

These clear bases are more what I'm needing. I love that they're clear and the shape is fantastic! I'm thinking I would love them with those shades above but for two lamps plus shades, we're talking $120!  Ouch!

Anyway, the master is one of my projects I've got planned for 2011...and boy, do I have a lot of projects planned!  I've really enjoyed blogging these past few months and am looking forward to so many more great posts and projects (so much so that I've got almost 50 drafts started!). I really hope you decide to stick around to see what I've got up my sleeve :)