Hugs & Kisses

I just love when there is a holiday. It means I get to redecorate. Not only that, I have something to blog about. And then the icing on the cake is that there are so many blog parties in which to share our decorating. It doesn't get much better than that.

Since I tend to go overboard with my holiday decorating, I thought I'd break it up into a few manageable posts. Translation: Manageable for me, but may still be photo overload for you. But this is my blog, I make the rules.

This post will be about my china hutch. And nope, I still have not painted it. Probably never will. It's not that I don't want to, I'm just lazy. I'd rather go shopping and/or decorate than paint.

I call this years hutch: Hugs & Kisses. Can you guess why?

This was my first cloche & for the past few months has found a new home on top of my hutch.
I have a bunch of cherubs that I picked up from various thrift stores that I used for my wedding reception. They work perfect for Valentine's Day.
The glittered "Love" sign I got at Michael's after Christmas clearance for 33 cents. I printed out a vintage Valentine heart in sepia tone from my computer & taped to the back of the glass. Tape doesn't like to stick to glass very well. Especially when there is a curve.

On the right side I have a wire photo holder I picked up from the thrift store for about a buck. I printed out more vintage Valentine hearts and or sayings from my computer. I did most in sepia tone & a few I left in the muted red.

The "XOXO" glitter sign I picked up from Walmart last weekend. I posted about this sign earlier in the week. But since I love it so much & I make the rules, and it's on my hutch, I'm posting about it again.
Someone asked me where I get my vintage images. I have purchased a few CD's off of ebay with vintage or Victorian images. And I have lots of books in the Instant Memories and Memories of a Lifetime book series. Each book is full of images and comes with a CD with the images. I got my books mostly from Amazon. But I've seen them at most bookstores and at Joann Fabrics.
Plus you can find lots online. My favorite online sources for vintage images are The Graphics Fairy and Shabby Chic Papirskatter. Both are bloggers.
I also use Picasa for storing my photos and images. You can change up your photos & even add text if you want. You can even make collages with Picasa. Picasa is free and pretty easy to use. It doesn't do as much as some other programs, but for lazy people like me, it's fabulous. And did I mention it is free?

And here is the reason I named this post "Hugs & Kisses". I picked up this sign a few weeks back at Marshall's. I thought it was just too cute to pass up.
I love how the polk a dots on the "&".
On the shelf below I added this cardboard "XOXO" banner I got from Target dollar spot a few years back. I just realized that I have my banner backwards! Yikes!!! I have it saying, "OXOX". Does that make a difference? Have I now jinxed my love life because of it? I sure hope not.
This year instead of using my red/pink transferware plates. I opted to use some of my white plates. These are all thrift store finds. I printed out some vintage Valentine hearts from my CD's in sepia tone and taped them to the front of each plate. The cherubs are more leftovers from my wedding.

On the base I have numerous apothecary jars and cloches. On the left side I have my 3 apothecary jars that I picked up from Big Lots a few years back. I filled them with candy. I caught my hubby snitching some of the candy last night. I told him he had to wait until I could take photos this morning. They were my props, not for eating!!!
Lucky for you and for hubby, there was still some candy left this morning when I took these photos. I put "Kisses" in the left one, peanut M&M's in the middle one and the right one has gummy hearts and heart shaped suckers.

In the back is one of my hand made cake stands. I used an old cheese dome as a cloche. It's kind of hard to see what's inside, but I have a pair of mercury glass birdies from Target (Christmas item), some silver glittered pencil starfish (I won them in a giveaway).
I added some heart scatters. Then I added an "I love you" foil cutout to the lid with some red ribbon.

In the middle I have this plate with a red heart made with teeny little hearts.
I just got the plate from Target this past weekend.

On the right I have another hand made cake stand and 3 cloches.

The plates I used for my cake stands have pink roses, which would work for Valentine's Day, but since I was going with more of a white, red theme I placed some white dinner plates on top of the rose plates. Then I placed these "faux" white roses on top.
I think this little fake rose plant came from Michael's a couple years ago. It's wrapped up in red foil & tied with a red bow. I placed red heart skatters around the plate so that the plant wouldn't feel so lonely. lol.

This is another thrift store cheese dome. I filled it with my number balls and some red hearts. I got the number balls last summer from a Coldwater Creek outlet, on clearance, for a fabulous price. I know you are all jealous. I did see some number & letter balls at Marshall's and TJ Maxx within the last few weeks. For a fabulous price as well. So run, don't walk to your nearest Marshall's, TJ Maxx & probably Home Goods to see if you can score you own.
I picked up the silver heart at my local thrift store last month for 25 cents. I added a "faux" skeleton key. And tied it all up with some Dollar Tree ribbon.

For this small cloche I added a little love note that I printed out of one of my books with the CD's. Can't remember which book it was. Sorry!
This little saying fits me perfectly as I have a terrible memory. I placed it on one of my vintage flower frogs that I got last summer. I need to find me some more. They work great for holding little pictures or images or sayings.

This final cloche is one that I made. I picked up the glass dome from the thrift store for a buck or two. I just glued on the glass knob (which I had on hand). And magic presto, a cloche!!!

I had this birdhouse under the cloche as part of my winter decor. It is actually a Christmas ornament that I picked up years and years ago. I just added the red heart to make it more Valentinesy. The silver metal bird is an ornament as well. I picked it up at my local thrift store back in December for 25 cents.

I hope that you have enjoyed my china hutch. Now I need to post about my fireplace mantel. And some other areas of my family room that I've decorated. I'll probably have about 3 or 4 posts by the time I'm done. So be sure to check back for more.






Linking to:

Valentine Party @ Bargain Hunting (and chatting) with Laurie

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Mantel Party @ The Stories of A 2 Z (I know this isn't a mantel, but she said any table, shelf, etc that we decorate works. So there!)