With Valentine’s Day coming up, I had a little creative fun with decorating for the holiday. Not a lot is happening in the garden in February, so it’s an excellent time for craft projects and cheery indoor festivity to enjoy after a rainy day pruning fruit trees or mulching blueberry bushes. I kept my eye out over the year for interesting vintage Valentine odds and ends, and had some good finds to work with. The above photo, for example, is a framed cross stitch I got at the thrift store, took apart and cut out in the shape of a heart. I fabric-glued it to a red felt backing, edged it with a scrap of lace, and Voila!
I had myself one fancy looking, up-cycled, old-fashioned Valentine decoration.
I discovered that layering linens and doilies gives a fun effect as a table centerpiece. I re-threaded this heart shaped doily with a red ribbon and surrounded it with a scattering of red felt hearts I cut out from scraps. It was just the right place to put our wintertime beeswax pillar candle on a heart-shaped tin candle holder
After collecting a good amount of solid red and solid white doilies, I had fun layering them under this old iron candle holder on our kitchen island. The coolest thing about this is that they were all inexpensive thrift store finds. The beeswax candles were a Winter Solstice gift from some dear friends, and the iron bowl in the center is filled with various heart shaped things I’ve made or been given over the years. Each one tells a little story of it’s own.
I decorated the cupboards by taking some vintage Valentines I found at an antique store, and gluing them onto some paper doilies. Vintage Valentines can range from very sweet to downright odd, so it’s always a really good time to sort through boxes of them at second-hand shops. You never know what you’re going to find!
Take these squirrels for example. Their tails and eyes move back and forth. I am not so sure about them, but they always give me a good, heart warming chuckle.
And this lady (a flapper judging by her hair) has a skirt that pulls down with a tab to reveal a heart under her apron. Hmmmm.
Last, but not least, my favorite valentines are all the ones my kids have made for me over the years. I strung them on fishing line and hung them on display from our ladder kitchen rack. From pipe cleaners to pin cushions, it makes my heart happy to look at them. I wouldn’t trade them for any store bought decoration or box of chocolates in the world.
Home is where the heart is.
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