Valentines Day Arrangement

Hello my lovies. I am back and ready to attack.  Attack?!?!  Yes, attack some Valentines Day decor that have been brewing in my head for the last few weeks.  Last time I had shared with you some of our weekend highlights which included a very much needed trip to the "city" (as in Madison, WI. HA!).  We sorta live in the country so a trip to the "city" requires a bit of a road trip (about 50 minutes). 

One thing we went on an adventure for was to find a brand (spankin) new couch to put in our family room.  Guess what?!?!  We bought one........and its here.......and we LOVE it (check that off of my January Resolutions list!! Wahoo! A "new couch" post to come soon.)

Speaking of loving things.......I'm totally loving on my V-day decor that I have been working on these last couple of days. I stopped in at one of my favorite craft stores, (not CRAP store as my hubby calls it. HA!) Michael's, and picked up a few things to get me started.  I wanted to use things I already had around the house but was missing the frilly glittery stuff. 

The only place in the house (so far) that I find I can really decorate for the seasons/holidays is the entryway (we don't have much furniture yet so this space works for now).  Its a "Plain Jane"  with nothing really in it but this wine holder table I got a few years ago (I use to use it as my makeup vanity):

It works for now until I can find something else to replace it!!

To go with the "work with what you have" montra I've been repeating to myself these last couple of months, I was able to find a few things lying around the house such as this big huge glass vase (thrifted at Goodwill this past summer), some candle votive holders (wrapped with green yarn I used for Christmas decor), and a pretty frame with a picture of my Godchild (who is now five years old. HA!).  So this was the starting off point to use for my Valentines Day decor because like I said above I wanted to use what I already owned and not spend a whole bunch of "doll hairs" (Just ignore the  ceramic bird and owl ornaments -they were just hanging out or doing whatever it is that birds do.....maybe a lunch date?!?! HA! ).

 ...

First I started with the vase and perhaps scratched my head a few times with confusion because the "blue glass" looked a bit too summery/springy to me:

I wanted to come up with a solution to cover it up!!  At first I thought of putting stuff in it such as feathers, balls of yarn, or a whole lotta ribbon.  But right away nixed those ideas because I wanted to keep this project inexpensive.  "Cheap" is the new "black" ya'll!  HA! I remember reading another blogger's post who had burlapped a whole wall in her sons room when I had that "Ah Ha" moment (that everyone keeps talking about).  Thanks to Katie Bower's post, "put a burlap on it" was stuck in my head the rest of the month and when I looked at the vase I thought "YES thank you KATIE" I will put a burlap on it!! 

I had bought some burlap to use for another project and decided I probably would have enough left over:

 2hotty (my hubby Scotty) helped me with the "putting ribbon around it" part.  He held the burlap tight around the opening as I wrapped some one-dollar red ribbon I bought at Michaels around the top:

It looked a bit messy, so I just pulled the burlap up as tightly as I could (think of Pamela Anderson's motto when getting in a dress. HA!)

 I also added more ribbon for a pop of color and texture:

This Martha Stewart yarn is AWESOME.  Its fuzzy and sparkly and I LOVE it.

I bought it in two colors - red and pink.  I think they were $4 dollars each but I had two 40% off coupons so essentially I got them both for the price of one:

After I burlaped my glass vase I put it back on the table to see what else I could do with it:

I had leftover branches from a previous arrangment (also involving this glass vase). 

Remember this arrangement from Christmas?!?!:

I grabbed the branches (I'm kinda a hoarder and didn't bother to throw them out yet. HA!) and sprayed them with white spray paint to give em' a "birchwood" look.

I forgot to snap an in between picture of what the branches looked like before I started to put stuff on them but you can sorta see the white branches peeking through in this picture:

Next I wanted to embellish the branches so I made a few ornaments:

Some pompon's using the red and pink fuzzy yarn:

and this "key to my heart" book page ornament:

And this is what it all looked like after I was finished:

As you can tell I also took the green yarn off of the candle votive holders and gave em' a makeover:

So with a few things such as burlap, yarn, and ribbon I was able to turn this:

into this (so far):

(I wish I could figure out lighting when taking pictures in this room. Ugh! Sorry for the horrible pictures.....I'm still new at all of this!!)

I say "so far" because I still have to add my picture frame to the mix and something else to go above the arrangement on the wall to get rid of some of that empty space (it's looking a bit like Tyra Bank's forehead! Sorry Tyra I still love you......just not your forehead)!!

So stay tuned. 

Next post will be on how I made the pompon's and key ornaments and what I put into my pretty little frame to make it more "Valentiney" (Is that even a word?!?!  It is now! HA!).

******Psst: A little update on my mom.  I had mentioned that she was going into surgery last week.  Well surgery went great and she is in the comfort of her own home recovering (and will do so for about six weeks.)! For those of you wondering she had a Colectomy (removal and reconstruction of part of her colon) due to some complications with Diverticulitis (say that word ten times fast. phew!)!  Many would say this surgery isn't that serious but it was scary none the less!! I was scared and nervous.  Anytime someone (especially if that someone is your own flesh and blood) is put under any anaesthetics there are risk/complications involved, so this surgery was not taken lightly by me.  That said, I am relieved and glad everything went as planned and am so thankful for everyone who kept her in their prayers and encouraged me with their words of kindness.  You have no idea how much that meant!! I am blessed with such wonderful friends and family in my life!!! Love you!

xoxo JoAnna D.