Decorating for Valentine's Day

I don't usually decorate for holidays other than Halloween and Christmas.  But our new house has this fantastic little landing as you come up the half-flight of stairs from the front entrance into the living room, and it seemed like the perfect spot to put just a couple seasonal things.  And then there's this Pinterest thing where I get too many ideas and have to try them out... Long story short: this year, we have Valentine decorations!

It all started with the Heart Felt Garland, inspired by this pin.  This was soooo easy (even a caveman could do it).  I chose four shades of felt (maroon, bright pink, light pink and white) and bought two 9x12 sheets of each.  Cost: like $2.50.  I cut the sheets into strips, then cut them into 2-inch hearts using a little pattern I did on the computer and printed on cardstock.  Then I just ran them through the sewing machine, one right after another.  It turned out that *one* sheet of each color made a garland long enough for my banister, so I also have these hearts strung all over my mantel, and a few over the dining room chandelier. The kids love it.  It's certainly a project that will show up again in different shapes and colors for parties!

At that point, I was feeling very crafty, so I decided to make these Conversation Hearts as a riff on this pin.  I didn't use the free printable offered on that blog, because I wanted to match the colors to my garland and fit them in this dollar store frame.  I did copy her sentiments and mimicked the shadows to give the hearts a bit of a 3-D effect.  Printed out on white cardstock, this project took about 15 minutes and cost a buck!

Then I was totally on a roll.  Next: the Cupcake Liner Pom Poms, inspired by this pin.  Here's where my quick progress ground to a halt.  It's not that I don't get along with my glue gun...but these things took for-evah.  And I remember cupcake liners being cheaper.  Even with my dollar store stryofoam balls as a base, I probably spent upwards of $5 on this project...more than I had expected.

The pink one is made with regular-sized liners using the pin-and-glue method described in the blog. A word to the wise: use pins with ball-heads on them.  I tried the flat ones that I had on hand, and it was awful.  They pulled through the liner, exposing my fingers to the hot glue, and were just generally awkward to use.  The little white pom I made with mini-liners, and I junked the pins altogether.  I wrapped the liner around the tip of the pencil and just pressed it into the stryofoam, holding a couple seconds so it could set.  It was insanely easier, faster, and my fingers were much better protected.  Ultimately, I'm not sure I'd try this project again...but they look cute for now.  My six-year-old daughter adores them.

About halfway through the glue-gun fiasco, I needed a break to buy more pink liners and let my fingerprints grow back in, so I went surfing and found the Valentine Subway Printable, pinned here.  This was really cute, downloaded in a nice high quality file and printed perfectly.  My Costco 5x7 print was $1.50 and I hit up the dollar store again for the gold frame.  Cheap.  Easy.  Done.

My kids have enjoyed this little foray into crafting...probably more than me.  There is a reason, after all, that I became a *digital* scrapbooker...I hate the fuss and muss of glue and scissors and scraps.  But all in all, the projects came out well and I'm totally glad I decided to go for it!

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