Easy Valentines Decorations

Ok, so it has been a while!!!! What can I say, I've been busy!!! Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays, and not because of the mushy, gushy reasons! I love it because I grew up in a well decorated house and my mom always made Valentines Day a beautiful, girlly day. To be honest, I often forgot about the having a "special someone" part of it. I just loved the colors and frills of Valentines day! I love the reds, pinks, whites, blacks, and purples, found in flowers, table settings, cards, and food! I just love it all! Of course, now that I have a special someone, it makes it even more meaningful to me! Here are just a couple of ideas that I have for Valentines Day, some that I have tried, and some that I have seen.



A Simple Smell Good Idea:

Love Coffee (or at least the smell of coffee)? Fill up a jar or hurricane with coffee beans (go ahead and splurge and pick your favorite smelling ones!) and add a candle in red or pink. You have an instant easy centerpiece that isn't overly mushy and smells good all the time! I leave mine out year long. And I just love the look of the dark brown beans with a nice shade of red or pink.



A Simple Pretty Idea:

I love flowers, but I cannot rationalize always paying for them. I love the recent look of flowers added to water. So, instead of buying a fresh bouquet (which you can always do, but the flowers don't last as long) buy a simple bunch of fake flowers from your local craft store. Pick just one color (monochromatic looks really good for this) in a shade of pink, red, or white. I picked out carnations that look kind of like peonies. Fill up a hurricane or vase (I have a tulip shaped one) with water and then take the flower heads off of the stems and dunk them down in the water. It really does look like real flowers! Now you have a simple flower arrangement that doesn't take a lot or cost a lot.




A Crafty Idea:


I saw this in Good Housekeeping and loved it!

Buy some simple white pillar candles and some colored (red or pink for Valentines) beeswax (find it in a local craft store). Cut out hearts or letters in the beeswax and press onto the candles. Use different heights of candles and spell out words like "I Love You" or Be Mine" with them Candles. Arrange them on a plate and you have an instant Valentines Day candle garden. Have fun!

A couple of other ideas:

Now if you really want to go all out Valentines Day, try some or all of these ideas:

• Put a red table cloth on the table
• Add a pretty runner in a sparkly color (mine's gold)
• Add glass heart shaped votive holders (I found some at Target in their dollar section)
  
• Add sequin hearts in red or pink
• Add candy hearts

The last two ideas are more whimsical, which is one of the things I LOVE about Valentines Day, but don't feel like you have to do the more whimsical unless you really want to. Just pick the ideas you like and have fun! That's the fun thing about Valentines Day....it is a day meant to be fun and share your love with the people around you.

Happy Valentines Day!

Creating a Stylish Information Center

The above picture is what I did with a few of my glass vases as mentioned in yesterday's blog. I arranged them on an inexpensive mirror ($5 at an antique store) with some hankies and a little silver box.




So, today's blog is just continuing ideas from around my house and this one is about how to create a convenient phone/information center that is attractive and useful. First of all, let's start with a place. Mine is in my kitchen, which is where the line for the phone is fed. It's most convenient there anyways. My suggestion is to place yours where your phone/charger/answering machine/etc. are located. The piece of furniture that I used was actually my old desk from growing up. This desk was bought at an unfinished furniture store and was painted white. By the way, unfinished furniture stores are a great place to buy wood pieces to then either paint or stain yourself, especially if you have the time to do it. Then you get to design your furniture and you're not paying someone else to do what you could have done yourself. You can also find very inexpensive desks at yard sales and thrift stores. Back to the information center. Inside the desk is where I keep my calendar, Bible, notebooks, sticky notes, loose change, basically anything that you need to grab heading out the door, writing down important dates, or taking a phone call. Now, my desk also works double duty as my table linen storage. On top of the desk is my phone and answering machine. The red holder next to it is where I keep coupons and menus from local stores and restaurants. Again, all convenient to reach as needed. I also have a cup with pens, pencils, and scissors easily reachable at a moment's notice. The notice board above is an easy do it yourself project. All you need is an empty frame (you can find these for really cheap at thrift stores or yard sales, 50 cents to $5), cork board sheets (this can be bought at any craft store for around $5-$6), some ribbon (again, check a craft section in your local store), wood glue or hot glue gun, and push pins (mine match the ribbon on my board). Cut the cork board sheet to fit a little bit bigger than the inside of your frame and put glue along the backside of the frame and fit the cork onto the glue. After this has dried, cut the ribbon to fit in diagonal strips across the board and lay it criss-crossing on the cork board (important, make sure the ribbon goes all the way to the frame on both ends. Use the push pins (I used flat headed push pins for this part) to hold the ribbon in place where the ribbon touches the frame and anywhere the ribbon criss-crosses. Then, cut the ribbon in strips long enough to border the inside of the frame and use the pushpins to secure the ribbon around the border. Tadah! You know have your own stylish cork board to place important business cards, invitations, and phone numbers and all for about $10-$20 depending on what you had already). Simply hang it above your information desk. Hope this helps you establish your own convenient place for all of your important contact and calendar information. Feel free to let me know of your own ideas or of any questions!