Saturday, January 30, 2010

Bloomin' Hearts!


I've never decorated for Valentine's Day before, but after seeing all the great displays of love over at everyone's blogs, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon myself this year.  However, it will be small as I start to grow a collection.  I figure by the time we get around to having kids, my collection will be appropriate enough to be appreciated by little ones!

Anyhow, after looking around, I realized I really have NOTHING that screams " Happy Valentine's Day" or even "Love"...I guess that's what happens when you don't have a family, the focus stays on less sentimental things, and more DECOR stuff... I wanna change this!  So, I was going to have to start from scratch!  A trip to the dollar store yielded a display of a lot of CRAP!! However, I will most likely be going back to pick up some heart appliqed dishtowels and a gorgeous door knob hanger, since I realized that we have a ton of interior doors that open up in the main space.

Amidst all the crap, I did find one crap item that got the wheels turning in my head.  It was a little box thing, with hearts splaying out in all different directions, and crazy streamers and floral pick things.  It was not my style at all, but I liked the idea that it could create height and dimension on a mantel!  So, I figured I could create something myself, that would be 100 times nicer.

My idea?  A flower pot blooming with hearts!

Supplies:
~ small,heart embossed, mini pot - ($1.97 - Walmart; admittedly, I could have used something from home, but this was cute!)
~ small, half-round styrofoam shape ($2.00 - Walmart)
~ spanish moss ($2.00 - Walmart for a big bag that I only used a tiny corner of; forgot to get at dollar store)
~ 1 package of 8 small, styrofoam heart shapes ($1.00 - Dollarama)
~ bamboo skewers ( already had)
~ white glue
~ paint brush ( already had)
~ glitter ( I used a combo of large glitter I already had, and a three-pack of Martha Stewart's fine glitter in "Coral", which is really just 3 shades of pink - love this! It was $7.50/3pk at Walmart)
~ scrapbook paper scrap
~ rub-on greeting (from my stash; Stampin' Up! brand)
~ ribbon
~ metal hardware tag


How To:
1. Make your "flowers".  The easiest way to do this is to spear a styrofoam heart with a bamboo skewer.  This way you can rotate the heart as you go, and get nice, even coverage!  (Note: if you want your stems a different color, paint them BEFORE you start.  I realized this too late, and simply used a white paint pen after the fact)


2. Coat each speared heart with white glue.  I used an old cheapie sponge paintbrush for this.

3. Cover each glue covered heart with glitter.  I chose to do 2 hearts of each glitter color.


4.  Put hearts aside to dry.  Assemble pot while waiting.

6.  When glue on hearts is all dry, insert your skewers into the foam at the bottom of the pot.  This may involve the ends of your bamboo "stems" needing to be cut, to get varying heights of "flowers".

7. Add some Spanish Moss to your pot to fill it out a bit, and add some interest, color and texture.

8. Create a little tag to add some interest to the base of the pot.  I grabbed a scrap of pink scrapbook paper and used a "love You" Rub-on for a sweet little greeting.  Using glue-dots, I adhered the message inside a metal tag embelishment.  To attach, I wrapped a piece of wired, silver ribbon around the pot and tied the ends.  ( I think I need a brighter ribbon, so this will most likely change the next day or so...)

9. Place your pot on the mantel, and admire it in it's finished glory, as you try to decide what else to put up there!

So, what do you think?  I'm gonna change out the ribbon today, and possibly cut down a few more stems to make it a bit more symmetrical, but I really love it!

Check back later this weekend for more projects, and a finished Valentine's Mantel reveal!

3 comments:

The S's beach house said...

LOVE It! I am with you on the lack of V day decorations. We also do not have any kids (yet) and my V day decorations have been very scarce. After seeing the yummy V Day decor of fellow bloggers I got jealous! I have created a few projects my self that I will be posting on my blog soon! I am a new blogger and have not gotten around to making my blog as fun as yours; got to start somewhere I guess. I will be trying your project soon, LOVE your blog!

I Can Craft That said...

I have never decorated for Valenines day but I think this turned out really nice! good job!

Fancy said...

Very cute! I will have to try this...no V Day decorations here! :(