Okay, so I really don’t have a “mantle.” But we will just call it that! Haha! It is actually the top part of our gorgeous entertainment center. It was part of the house when we bought it last year. Sorry for the photo, it was getting dark!
I LOVE Valentine’s day. But I don’t usually go all out and decorate for it like I do for Christmas. But I wanted a little something. Here is a better look at it:
I think it turned out so very cute! Let me break down from left to right what I did to put together this little Valentine’s vignette. First, I wanted some kind of white flower. Because it’s still winter, I didn’t want to go all out for colorful pink or red flowers. You might be thinking, “Why didn’t you go for roses?” Well, I didn’t want it to be too “cliché Valentine’s décor.” I stopped in at my local Dollar Tree and snagged these little white berry things. I have a lovely white teapot set and I borrowed the sugar bowl for the berries to rest in. I also wanted some kind of weather book to go with the décor. I didn’t have any and I wasn’t in the mood to run to my second hand store. So I found some old college books from my hubbies first year in school and ripped off the covers. I know! Shame on me! But here’s the deal: We have tried to sell them back three times. So I didn’t feel bad using them for decoration. Some of the pages were too perfect and too white. I didn’t have any stain on me so I SUPER improvised! I used Vanilla Extract and dry Hot Chocolate mix (yes, you read that right!). I smudged the vanilla over the bindings and pages and then rubbed the dry cocoa into it. Perfect weathered look! I tied them together with some girly baker’s twine. Perfect!
Onto the logs with the flowery “things.” Have you ever see “The Lorax?” Well, I decided that these ruffle things look like the Truffula trees from that movie (kinda). But, like I said before, I wanted to do something different from the normal flower thing. I had Styrofoam balls and hand and some lovely left over red fabric. I ripped the fabric into strips, sewed the largest stitch on my sewing machine down the middle, and gathered the stitch by hand. Then I hot glued the fabric to the balls. Easy peasy! To keep them on the logs, (which my husband cut for me), I drove a tooth pick in and then attached the Styrofoam ball to it. Done!
Next is my very favorite part! The middle log with the heart carved into it. I attempted to carve a heart by myself with a kitchen knife. Ya….. dumb, I know. When my husband got home from work, I wanted to throw the stupid thing through the window! I only managed to carve a FAINT line of a heart. I asked if he would be willing to help. He went to the garage and I went to the kitchen to eat chocolate.
Anyway, He came back with this spectacular carved heart! I couldn’t believe it! So much more than I expected! The next day, he picked up an inexpensive wood burning kit from Wal-Mart and I burned our initials into it. We also lined the heard with the burning tool to make it pop a bit more! Don’t you love it?!
The last thing on the right is another white dish with a candle in it. I wanted to “fluff” it up, so I added some coffee filters around it. I did stick some Chinese Cherry blossoms (fake) around the right side to give it a little extra oomph. Then sprinkled the front with some left over berried and WALAH! I think it turned out so cute!
Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day? I’d love to hear from you and see emails. Thanks so much!
