Blog Parties

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Love is all you need-Valentine hutch

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! The day is 3/4 of the way done and I am just now posting. That's what happens when my real life gets in the way of my blogging life. Seems to happen all the time now.

Anyhoo, since today is Valentine's Day, I thought I better post about my Valentine hutch.

This years version is very frugal.

I started off with this chalkboard I picked up at a flea market for a buck. I just wrote "Love is all you need!" and instant Valentine decor.

My Valentine theme this year is heart doilies from the dollar store.


The larger heart doilies actually came Walmart. But I think they were around a dollar. Maybe a little more. The smaller white ones came from Hobby Lobby.

Did I ever mention how excited I am that we finally have Hobby Lobby in southern California? And that one is 20 minutes from my house? Doesn't get much better than that. Unless it were less than 5 minutes away. I'm just happy I don't have to drive to Utah or Arizona anymore to shop at one.

I just taped red & white heart doilies to all my plates.

And tied some to different size Mason jars with some bakers twine. The "XO" circle was a free printable from The Diary of Daves Wife.

I have a stash of Valentine cookie cutters that I used under some of my cloches.

I like the vintage ones the best. But I take what I can find.

It's hard to see in this cheese dome. But I put more of my vintage heart cookie cutters inside a larger newer one.

The "Be Mine" banner I made last year. It was a free printable that I found at Very Merry Vintage Style.

I added a red background to mine.




I just used stuff I already had on hand in a couple of my small cloches. This one has some paper hearts I made last year from my Dollar Tree thesaurus. There are some red glitter hearts at the bottom. And I could not for the life of me, make my heart stand in the right direction.


The "Hugs & Kisses" sign was picked up at TJ Maxx last year or the year before. I didn't change out my apothecary jars this year. Too lazy.

And finally a sweet cherub with a lonely heart.

All I decorated for Valentine's day is my hutch and my mantel. I never did decorate anything else. Partly because I'm too lazy and party because I can't get to the cabinet in the garage that houses all my cherubs. My hubby is a hoarder. He would call me one, but we all know he is the real culprit. I'm just a closet hoarder. He's the garage hoarder.

There is always next year!

Maybe I should clean out the garage as hubby's Valentine's Day present. Nah! Too much work. And we all know how much I hate work.

Now go and enjoy what's left of your Valentine's Day.



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Monday, February 6, 2012

Valentine Mantel

I finally quit tweaking my mantel enough to take photos and post about it. And it's a good thing since Valentine's Day is in a week.

I decided to stick with red, white & black this year.

I had most everything in my stash already.


Wrapped a battery operated candle with some Dollar store heart doilies and tied it with some bakers twine. The bakers twine was a special deal from Pick Your Plum back in November.

I already had the cookie cutters. The wire heart in the back was a thrift store find last year. I found it while on vacation. Either in Utah or Arizona.

Found some Valentine related silhouettes from good old Google and Pinterest. This one was found on Flickr.

And this one at Karen's Whimsy.

The glitter heart cutout I've had for years. It either came from Walmart or Target's Dollar Spot. I did just get the glittered "LOVE" from Michaels a few weeks back. I think that is my only new purchase for the mantel.

I made the chalkboard from a cabinet door I picked up at the Habitat ReStore last year. I think it cost me a couple of bucks. I've been wanting to attach it to door that goes into my laundry room from the kitchen, but I've been too lazy to do so. So why not use it for my Valentine mantel?

I found the saying from Your Homebased Mom blog. She has a free printable with this saying.

I recycled one of my rosette's from last year. Added a "14" image that I found at The Diary of Daves Wife.


The cupcake liner heart I made for last year's mantel. I just removed the blue ribbon & pinned it to my chicken wire frame with a small clothespin. You can see in the reflection that it still has a blue back. I was going to paint it, but the lazy person in me opted not to.

The wooden "LOVE" sign was originally black. I painted it white a few years ago. Now I am wishing I had left it black. I guess I could have painted it black again. But, that lazy person inside decided white it just fine.

I used my thrift store Mason jars from my Christmas & winter mantels again.

I did just find this heart shaped basket at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. I spray painted it with some cheapo paint from Walmart as I was out of my Rustoleum Heirloom White paint.

My "Valentine" garland was super easy. Just taped some smaller dollar store heart doilies to some larger red ones, printed out some letters that I got from AllSorts blog that spell "Valentine" & pinned them all to some bakers twine with my heart clothespins I picked up from Michaels last year on clearance.

And a few last photos of my mantel.

So how do you like this years mantel? Let me know.



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Friday, February 3, 2012

Love is in the air

Valentine's Day is almost here and I still don't have my decorating done. Surprise, surprise!

But I did have fun taking some of the photos from past Valentine's and changing them up with a fun website I found called PhotoFunia.

I found these fun effects under their "Lab" tab. This effect is called "Embroidery".

This effect is called "Film Effect. I did this one in a sepia tone.

Same "Film Effect", but this time I chose the fading option. This one reminds me of my photos from the 70's. Most of them have faded over the years.


I think my favorite effect is this one. It is called "Vintage photo".

You know how I am a sucker for anything vintage.

And this effect gives this cool border.

This effect is called "Engravement".

And I love this one. It's called "Photo Booth". You pick 4 photos and it puts them on a strip with a vintage feel. Love it!

This effect is called "Oil Painting"

This one is called "Old Book".

I had fun changing up my photos with this website. So head on over to PhotoFunia and try it out for yourself.

Hopefully I'll get my Valentine decorating done this weekend. My mantel is about 95% complete. I just need to write something lovey dovey on my chalkboard. And my hutch is about 50% done.

Plus I want to go down to Murrieta tomorrow to the Ivy Street Market. It is held the first Saturday of every month. You can find it at a little antique store called Cottage Charm at 41529 Ivy St, Murrieta, CA 92562. 9am-3pm. Last month was my first time attending. Lots of fun stuff.

One of the vendors is The Beehive Cottage. She has the best vintage trailer I have ever seen in person. You just have to see it. CUTE!!!

And I found someone who sells the Annie Sloan chalk paint there. I think hubby is going to buy some to paint my new china hutch. Can't wait. I still have to decide what color though. I hate making decisions. Probably why not much gets done at my house. Ha, ha!