Valentine Wrap-Up

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm such a lucky girl this year (well, every year, really!). Today I received a beautiful bouquet at work from my husband and one from my daughter (okay, so my mom bought it but it is still my sweetheart's name on the card).

I decided to celebrate by doing a quick wrap-up of my Valentine's Day projects.

First, I made a simple framed picture for a sweet little vignette in my living room:

Next, I put up a sweet little garland.

Then, another garland that was even easier but just as pretty:

And finally, my favorite project, a pretty heart and flower wreath.

I had so much fun coming up with these ideas and making these this year. I'm a little sad that they will have to come down so soon but excited to start working on St. Patrick's Day and Easter!

I've also got a post started about my party I hosted this weekend. It was such a good time and I took so many pictures...I can't wait to show you what we had for food!

Oh, one more thing...Yesterday was such a beautiful day with temps in the 40s so I decided to start a couple spray paint projects for my master bedroom. So far I'm thrilled with the results and I can not wait to get those posted!

Once again, happy Valentine's day. Take time to tell someone special how much you love them :)

A Pretty Valentine Wreath

Well, here it is...less than a week to Valentine's Day and my last (probably?) Valentine's Day craft.  Now, I'm not going to lie - this one wasn't as easy as the others but I think the finished product is just a little more special.

I love the look of yarn-wrapped wreaths and although I love the typical felt flowers on them, I really wanted to try a different idea I had floating around in my head.

I started with a simple foam heart-shaped wreath form and some white yarn I had on hand from another project.

I wrapped and I wrapped and I wrapped some more - sticking a pin in every so often to keep it from unravelling.

I didn't bother with the pointy parts. You will see why later.

For the flowers, I cut strips of fabric roughly two inches wide, scalloping one of the long sides.

I used hot glue to secure one edge (usually the narrower edge, if there was one) to a pencil. You really could use anything - you will be taking it off the pencil, just using it as a start.

I pinched and glued and twisted and pinched and glued...

Once I got about this far, I took the pencil out and just kept gluing three - four inches at a time.

I pinched and sort of twisted the fabric as I went to make it look a little more full and real...as real as fabric can look!

The back was fine to stay just as it was. In fact, having the back sort of flat worked well for hot gluing them to the wreath.

...the finished product. To make some flowers larger I just used a longer strip of fabric.

Here is my wreath and my big stack of fabric flowers.

Remember, I said I didn't bother trying to cover the points.

I used a length of some ribbon I had on hand and used hot glue and straight pins to secure it to the wreath, and just went to town hot gluing the flowers on...

This is why I didn't care about covering up those areas...


...the flowers took care of it for me.

I really love this project. I had the idea for the flowers floating around in my head for a while. I didn't use a tutorial but I'm not saying I came up with the idea on my own either. I'm sure it was a culmination of several tutorials I've seen.

So, this wraps up my Valentine's Day series. I'm on the prowl, looking for awesome St. Patrick's Day ideas. It just so happens that St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays...do you have any ideas to share?



Garland Obsession...

Okay, to say I've been obsessed with garlands is maybe a bit much but it really is hard not to fall in love with something that is so easy to DIY.

I know I keep calling these Valentine's projects easy and if I keep using the word it might lose effectiveness but really, they are so.stinking.EASY!  This simple garland has got to be the easiest yet.

I started out with a package of dollar store paper heart-shaped doilies and two spools of cheap Valentine ribbon from Joann.

I threaded the ribbon through the cut-outs in the doilies and strung them each a few inches from the next (without getting scientific!).

I did use a little bit of glue stick to hold the ribbon in place on the front of the hearts. I didn't want them moving.

 There you have it! This took me about a half hour and that was just because I had a handsy helper :)

I swagged it from the half wall thingie in my entry way.  One (9 ft) spool of ribbon wasn't quite enough and two was a little too much so I ended up tying the two spools together with a little bow in the middle.

I love this project. I have been having so much fun with Valentine's this year and I still have one more project to show you. I'm already thinking about what I can do for St. Patrick's Day!

I've got a few posts planned for this coming week and then next Saturday I'm hosting a small birthday party and I'm so excited to show you what I've got cooking for that!