Valentine's Day Decor! The Crafts

Every year for the holidays I like to add a few new things. I love making new crafts! This year I was a bit more daring, but a on a budget. This is our first VDAY in our own home so I kind of went crazy. Here are the crafts I made this year and last year. Every thing is super simple and a few items I can use for other holidays. (key to decorating: versatility)

My Front door

Lets Start with the door. I like to decorate the door with a wreath or a sign. It makes it very welcoming. This was a heart shaped wreath. I believe around $6.99 at Michael's and I had a coupon. I bought a cheap spool of red ribbon and hot glued it too the back. Simple yet festive.

I wanted to have a banner on my fireplace but could not find one I really liked and didn't have a whole lot of time. So I got some letters and painted them. I had some old jute (twine) laying around from another project. I had Matt drill the holes and ta da a banner!

A super easy and simple way to add decor is letters. I took the XOXO Valentine's day theme and painted them with some Cream paint. It was fast and inexpensive. Also kid proof :).

This is was one project I will do again for other holidays! I found a vinyl that said "LOVE," so I cut the letters out by themselves. Went to Michael's where they were having a sale and got a box of 16 votive holders for $5! I was sooo excited. Threw in some candles for the finishing touch. You could even use these on a shelf or on a table as a centerpiece.

I was feeling extra crafty when I was at Michael's and saw this frame for $3. I bought it and painted it with the left over XOXO paint. I dug in my scrap box of paper (you never know when you will need it) I found some old Christmas paper but the back was just red with off white dots. While digging I found some scrabble tiles I bought a while ago at a antique store and hot glued them to the paper. Best thing about the craft I will use the frame for other holidays and just store the paper in my holiday box.

I LOVE getting decor as a gift! So last year my mom bought me this "Be Mine," banner. It seems simple to make. Old book pages with a word stamped on them and ribbon. Just had to share this cute idea :)

Last year I made this craft. It was a wood sign that I painted and found a vinyl that said "LOVE," and one of the cupid. I then bought wood hearts and painted them red. Easy and simple.

Every holiday I have a "W" to match the theme. I just paint the letter and modge podge the scrapbook paper to the letter and add some stickers and buttons. To hang I just hot glue a piece of ribbon. My little sister gave me this idea. This whole project could be made under $10.

I had these candles laying around from Christmas. I got them at Ikea for $3 each. I found these candle stick holders at a garage sale and just had them laying in the garage. (eventually I will paint them) While out browsing the craft stores I saw these doilies for $2.99 for 30 of them so I picked those up. When I got home Pinterest (my fav website) showed how some people put them on candles. So I still had some old jute left from the banner and attached it to the candle! Now I have a whole new look.

While hunting for frames at Michael's I saw this wood plaque. With the left over paint from my banner and a vinyl I found a while back. Something easy to store after the holiday or I can keep it up if I liked for everyday.

At Michael's I picked up these foam hearts and stickers. It was a fun rainy day project for the kiddos I nanny for and when they were done I found some left over ribbon and hot glued it to the back. Now I have it for decoration. It is always great to get the kids involved they feel very special when they see it out for everyone to see.

Since this is my first Valentine's Day with a kitchen I wanted some fun decor items on a budget! I got this frame at Michael's and painted it. I found some wood letters and painted them the same color as the frame. Thanks to Pinterest I got this design idea and had some left over paper from another project and whipped this up! I think I will use the frame for other holidays just keep switching it out.

Found this idea on Pinterest! It was way harder then I thought! Thank God I have a super helpful husband who came and rescued me! I had this old frame laying around the garage and some spray paint left over from some furniture. Matt painted it for me. Then you sit and sort through conversation hearts and start hot gluing. Getting the shape of the heart was not easy. (This is not a fast project) After that I stuck white paper in the frame for a simple background. Now I have some art in my kitchen.

With the left over conversation hearts. I found an old white candle laying around and decided to jazz it up! Simple and fun!

These are just a few ideas for you to do during the season of love! Don't spend a lot of money if you don't have it. Just add when you can! Happy Crafting :)

My Valentine's Day Decor! Vase Fillers

This year I had so much fun decorating for Valentine's Day! I did a lot of crafts and I am so excited to share them all. It may be picture overload but I didn't want to miss a detail. :) It will be broken up in a few posts so I can also explain some home decor ideas.:) Lets start with vase fillers with the Valentine theme. I love a vase filler! Number one reason: you can change them! I have them in every room of the house. I like to change to match parties, holidays, or decor. You now can find them at craft stores, Target, Ikea, and more.


 

 For my tall vases this year I went for a pink theme. I have silk petals in one vase. The medium vase I picked jewels and pearls for the bottom. I bought a piece of card stock and burned the edges rolled it up with some fancy pink ribbon to look like an old fashioned love letter. The tall vase is pink potpourri from Ikea with a key on the top (the key to my heart).

Here is a closer look at the filler



 Candy is always a great filler. Inexpensive too. These are conversation hearts I had left over from a craft project.



 This trio I decided on a red theme to match the living room decor. I have the rose petals in red. The jewels you can find at a craft store in many different colors. These jewels I found at pier one a couple years ago. The last vase is shredded book paper. I thought it looked nice and not so much red.



These vases are in my kitchen. Like I said before I love candy so Matt helped me separate all the colors

There are my Valentine Theme Vases. Best decor secret ever! If you ever have questions or need help I am your gal :)

The Bedroom!

So I have had a lots of great comments about I love how you decorate! Its sooo organized! Where do you find these things? I never would have the time for that!

Well here I am to give you some tips! Trust me when Matt and I found this house we had no time either! The day we signed the lease I went out of town and then we moved! The week we moved I went back to school, Matt was in and out of town, and he was in the middle of playing and coaching baseball. We also lost my grandma 3 weeks after we moved in. So nothing is done all at once, though I tried really hard and got a lot of it done in a short amount of time thanks to both our families. It is always a work in progress. So I decided I will share my home ideas with you and some of my tricks and  you can love your space and home as much as I love mine! (in a few posts, bear with me)

Lets start with the most important room in the house! The Bedroom! No I am not going kinky on you! (a lady doesn't kiss and tell) ;)

I am a person who needs her sleep. I also need a clean space so if my room is not clean it makes me crazy and I will not sleep because of it. The bedroom was the first room done in our house because I could close the doors and get away! Matt's mom and sis in law painted this room for us and that night my mom and Matt hung all the frames and shelves. (disclaimer: we love our house but it has its issues. We pay GREAT rent and deal with the tiny flaws. I will let you in on a few. For one our carpet is not appealing at all! We have cleaned it multiple times and you can not see any difference. We have parts of the foundation missing so there are some drop parts :) and though we hung everything up and made sure they were level they don't look it since our floor is not even. The walls in our room were a deep blue green color peeling from the walls and had been patched sooo many times not much you can do but paint over it :) so trust me its far from perfect)



Here is what our room looks like from the door
The paint we bought from Lowes. Its the Laura Ashley Home by Valspar in Lilac 3. Its not as bright purple. I have not the greatest camera and lighting to work with.

This is what our room looks like from the bed
(main door on the left, my closet on the right)

When Matt and I got married the colors were black and off white (like the damask type comforter on our bed) with the accent color of Tiffany blue. Well bad accent color to choose! Apparently my face wash at the time bleached all the pillow cases and sheets! When we went to buy more they had discontinued the color!!! ERRRR!!!! So we decided to pick a new accent color. Target had some of their new decor stuff out and had a butterfly pictures (in the pic above) with a hint of the turquoise color we liked and some other colors. So I asked Matt's opinion what color he liked so we could start decorating some more. His exact response was "purple! UW colors!!!" So we went with purple. Not the exact UW purple but that part of the color wheel :). Target even had lampshades with purple to match. So long story short we adapted some of our accessories and added some new ones.


Matt's side of the bed & the door to the bathroom

If you have not heard Matt and I love the #3. No it was never Matt's number but in high school when Matt was around my family he would squeeze my hand 3 times to tell me he loved me. When he plays baseball he will hold up a 3 in the middle of the game to tell me he loves me. Its always been our thing. We Incorporated it in our wedding and now into our home decor. Its hunt for 3's every where :). For the decor we bought these shelves at target and we got most of the decor at little shops in downtown Sumner, WA. (fav place of mine to shop) The numbers are old house numbers, sign numbers, and old score board numbers (have to sneak in a little baseball decor). The old playing card and domino pieces were less then a dollar at an antique store. The frame and picture was used as my memorial to my Papa at my wedding. My favorite part of the wall is the picture with the quote below. "Friends yesterday, lovers today, soulmates forever. The pictures worked perfectly for it and It is sooo true in our love story.



Our 3 wall

The wall decor above Matt's bedside table

The frame with the purple background was an old frame we were not using with a piece of card stock behind it. We found a quote that was special to us in the vinyl section at Artco (the most dangerous craft store) and applied the vinyl to the glass. The quote "Whoever said sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain." The night Matt told me he loved me for the first time was when we were outside in the rain. The frame with the white paper was actually our vows typed up and framed. Since the first anniversary gift is paper. Matt typed up our vows for me as my gift. I loved it and I thought it was sooo sweet that it needed to be in our room!

This wall theme is based a little on my old bedroom. I love Paris and dream of going one day. I also LOVE the Eiffel tower!!! So the Paris items and frames were from my room before I was married. The frame in the top left is actually a frame from my wedding with a picture of my grandparents that I had at the alter at our wedding and its their wedding photo. The pictures I turned black and white thanks to Costco! The candle holders our Partylite and the flower is a candle holder from Target.



My amazing comfy chair!!!

The shelf was Matt's he got at Ikea before we got married and a few accessories! I like to add books to accessories. I added to books that our love stories just cus I wanted the romance feel. (its always the little details to me) The accessories are mostly from Michael's, Ikea, and Target.



Bathroom door on the left. Matt's closet in the middle, and the main door.

Art work my mom found at Marshalls. Its a great place to find the little things. Its a usually reasonably priced store. Though you can't read the sign above the door to our bathroom it is actually lyrics to the song "Everything," by Michael Buble (Matt's song to me on our wedding CD) I had to have it when I saw it!

The dresser I actually got from Matt's parents years ago and my Grammy painted it when I was still in high school. It still worked well so when I got married and we were painting our bedside tables we decided to run a couple coats over it and spray paint the old handles. A cheap easy way to fix hand me down furniture! The artwork on the left side was a gift from the Buell's (my boss) when they went on vacation to the Oregon Coast. It has such an uplifting message. A few little accessories and the butterfly pictures that we designed our room colors around. The tree on the left is actually holding my rings and bracelets (a clean organized way to display jewelry). The TV is tiny, don't worry we are getting a bigger one soon. :)

Closer look at the accessories

Our bed

 

Here is our bed! We are actually on the hunt for some new fabric to recover some of these pillows. I want more fabrics :) But my absolute favorite thing maybe in my whole house is my "W" pillow. My mom made it for my first Christmas as a Williams. The "W" is made out of buttons! We have a bed with a head and foot board we bought this fall for $30 at a garage sale. We just need some nicer weather to fix it up and paint it. Matt's side is the right side. An easy organized tip is putting your remotes in a bucket (ours has a 3 on it) but since we have the Wii remotes, DVD, TV, and cable remotes we need to keep them together. My side is on the left. One of the cutest "3" things I bought is a little box. Matt and I each have one for our wedding rings. I bought them at a little store in Sumner around the time we got married and a year later they made it into "Real Simple Magazine," I was quite excited :) to see something I loved in a magazine :)

sorry for the glare
The tray is actually my great-grandmother's.

That is our bedroom. Its always a work in progress. I change things all the time. I put some away for awhile and then pull it out when I feel like it. Its never expensive items that make a room, its the details that make you feel at home. 

What I am loving WEDNESDAY!

So I have decided to share some of the stuff I am loving every Wednesday with you guys!

Some days it will be sentimental or it will be little things that make me smile!

Here are a few things I am loving today!

First off my new favorite tune!

It is a song about love and it just puts you in a good mood!

 

 

The second favorite thing I am loving is a deck of cards!

Matt and I have been trying to save some money and find some fun things to do so one night after work he went to target and came home with a deck of cards! He taught me how to play speed! Most nights we play a few games and laugh the whole time.

 

 

The last thing I am loving is having a clean home! Matt and I are in the process of decorating for Valentine's day and it always stresses me out and I don't know why. (part of my OCD in me ). I just get sooo giddy having a clean home and more relaxed! I just want to thank my hubby for dealing with my craft projects and cleaning habits!  :) Hoping for a fun relaxing weekend :) 

Matt coaching (love his smile)

Hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

CAUTION!!! Loads of PICTURES!

I thought I would share with you one of my most FAVORITE things to do during the Holidays! DECORATE!!!

So I am sorry if its a lot but I love it!

Welcome to the Williams' home!

The Wreath my hubby bought me for my Birthday!
(flowers are so overrated!) Just kidding!

Christmas decor purchase of the year (besides the necessities) my manger with a REMOVABLE JESUS!

With the assistance of my very talented Mother-in-Law I sewed the pillows on the ends of the couch
(they even have zippers!)

Our little Fireplace!
(with stocking my mom made us our first married Christmas)

Excuse our blanket basket (we pay for heat)

My Christmas Card holder
(I made it last year)

Now on to the Kitchen!

I LOVE Gingerbread decor for my kitchen!

Favorite new toy!!!

I love our little home! It may be tiny but its the best for us right now! Thanks for enjoying! BEWARE!!! Valentine's Day Decor is coming! (my poor hubby)