Sunday, January 15, 2012

Valentine Decor 2012

 I don't have any place to put these off season so just added some red things to make the apothecary jars work for Valentine's Day.
 A mini garland that Candice made for me using some of Stephanie's graphics and a little love sign from JoAnn's.
 The left half of the bookcase.
 The right half.  I pretty much use dishes and things that I already have.  It's fun to try and reuse the things I already have.
A few close ups.
The red branch things I use in my Christmas tree.  Hey, they are red.

 a love garland I made up.  The letters are glittered with German glass glitter.  I'll try and do a tutorial since I am making 12 more for Stephanie's Valentine exchange.  Shhh, don't tell anyone who is coming.



 Good Valentine decorations are hard to find so I taped a heart to the top of my dome and added little red jewels and glittered birds.



 Some beaded garland and hearts make the chandelier festive too.
Brenna made my "love" pillow and I bought the red covers from Ikea.
 Hobby Lobby had these glittered foam wreaths this year.  I added them to my doors from France along with the "key to my heart" tied with black silk ribbon.  It just kicks things up a notch.
 It's starting to look like a Valentine's celebration around here.
 I bought inexpensive frames from Ikea and added real vintage sheet music and a foil heart.  Easy, fast, and festive.
I have two hanging on the wall.
 A simple centerpiece.
 The mantel in process.  I'm still tweaking it.
A few close ups.


I'm doing lots of pinning on Pinterest trying to decide what to make for my Valentine Exchange.  Anyone have any good ideas?

Linen Wreath

Brenna (my daughter-in-law) gave me this linen wreath for Christmas.  She made it herself.  I love home made gifts...and linen anything.  Thanks Brenna!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Valentine's Party 2011

 I'm not sure what happened to my last year's Valentine's Party post but I thought I would show you some of the gifts that we exchanged.  Last year we had a pot luck dessert appetizer table and then took turns showing what we each brought and then exchanged them.  Some of these gifts were from Steph's party and some were from mine.  Above was for a movie night of popcorn and hot chocolate.
 Hand made bath salts.
 A rice bag for the microwave.
 I thought I'd show you this banner that Brenna made using canvas and freezer paper templates to paint the hearts and letters.  She let me borrow it to add to my decor.
 Brenna made a bubble gum necklace with a felt rosette to exchange.
 This one was from Steph's party.
 Mary Ann made butter mint shaped hearts to eat.  They were delicious
 Red hot lips with a wild card.
 A vase full of valentine candy and topped with red hot lips.
 Dana made a hot date in a fabric box...dice to roll, a razor to use before the date, CD's with modern and old fashion love songs, breath mints, and hersey's kisses.  So clever and a lot of work.

 Look at these darling owls.  We all got a package containing two owls.
 Eva made a letterpress poster for everyone.


 My mantel.  Kind of boring now that I look at it.  Too bad I just packed away some red garlands in my Christmas stuff.  It needs some work.
 Heidi made these cute garlands for everyone.
 This is her presentation.
 Here is my garland that I made and gave everyone.  Sorry I don't have a pattern to give.  I bought one and used it for a pattern. 
 Leslee designed and made these heart blocks.

 Lisa made blank accordion books for everyone.  Each one was different.
 Lisa from Steph's party, silk screened a bag for everyone.
 Liz made everyone an apron.  They were all different.  So much work.
 Here's one of my garlands in my "love" branches.
 Brenna made this cute pillow for me for Valentine's Day.  What a sweet daughter-in-law I have.
 I bought 20 of these lunch trays at a school surplus sale.  They were 25 cents each.  I should have bought more for all my daughters.  What was I thinking?  We ate off of these at my party.
 Minature garland that Candice made me on baker's twine.  Steph designed the tags.  I have such talented girls who are so nice to remember their mother.
 Paper dolls drawn by one of Steph's friends.
 Shule designed these cute labels with her husband.  Everything on the label was related to Valentine's Day.

 Stephanie, a friend, made chocolate turtles and this cute little linen pillow with an embroidered heart and pearl.
 (I threw this in so you could see the present my Steph gave me for my birthday.  She designs letterpress cards for Sycamore Street Press.  I love them so much, I have a hard time giving them away.)
 A close up of the heart pillow and yummy turtles.

 The Valentine branches.
Brenna made me this wreath for my birthday 2011.

So this post is a year late and missing all the pictures of the people and the food.  I guess I need to go back and find those too.  If you don't have your own Valentine's Exchange, you might want to start.  We have so much fun.