Well I never really decorate in the house for Valentine’s day…not sure why I did this year. Maybe seeing all those neat mantel displays on Pinterest made me want to do it. Maybe me knowing for sure I’m not going back to work and had time was the culprit. Either way I decorated my mantel and I Love it!
So let’s start with the plaque and the wine bottles. I used this printable for the wood. I originally wanted to put it in a pretty frame like I kept seeing people do online but I didn’t want to spend much (I mean I really didn’t want to pay more than $5) and EVERY frame I wanted was $10-$25. So I saw this piece of wood at Hobby Lobby for $1.99! So ummm, I had my hubbs spray paint it white for me (hehe!) and I sanded it to make it look a little less new. Then the night before I was going to work on it I thought…what if the ink runs?! So the next day I was prepared for this to be a big flop but was prepared to be ok with it since it was only $1.99! So I grabbed my mod podge (I have glossy–wish I had matte), a foam brush, the printable, my paper cutter and went to my dining room table that I covered with wax paper (i’m high tech here people!). I put my printable on the wood and bent the sides down to make a crease to get my desired size and cut the paper. Then I applied a medium coat of MP on the wood and stuck my paper on it. I smoothed the bubbles out with my hands (they do make a tool for this–I just don’t have it since um well it costs money I don’t want to spend just yet). So Since you can add MP on top as a sealer I added a thin coat. And yup, that’s where my ink ran. At first I was just going to quit but then I started to like the pink tone it gave. I mean after all it is for Vday! So I kept it and I actually really do like it. For the wine bottles they need to be empty and probably clean too..lol! So you can either be a lush and drink away or ask a local restaurant, friends or your local freecycle group for them. So once you have your bottles remove the labels with goo gone and then you’ll need to use laquer thinner to get the oil residue from that off (i guess that’s paint thinner–dunno my hubbs told me to use it) and then I spray painted it. I was going to paint the little one white and stensil a red heart on it but then I remembered I bought the chalkboard paint back in November for a project I still haven’t gotten around to. Then I decided to paint the other one red. I was going to punch out card stock confetti and glue it to the bottle but I thought it would look a little weird next to the plaque. So I found some pink ribbon and tied a bow.
Next up are the paper flowers. I used this tutorial but I didn’t draw the spirals on the paper I just free cut those. I had most of the card stock for the paper flowers but wanted to add more colors so I went to Hobby Lobby and snagged a few more sheets…and bonus they were 30% off! It only takes about a minute or two to actually make the flowers and I did that while watching tv. I was originally going to make a few flowers grab some twigs for stems from our tree outside but then it started to rain and rain some more…wound up raining for a few days and I didn’t want to wait for those sticks to dry out so instead of buying twigs (oh yes…I priced those and OMG they are expensive!) I put them in a vase I already had and I think it actually turned out really cute! I then scattered a few remaining flowers on the mantel.
Now i’m all Valentiny! Happy Valentine’s Day people!!!
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