we've got a pinterest kind of love.

my husband laughs a little bit at how much i've... ahem... utilized the very special entity that is pinterest. while i do think it can be a bit of a trap you get stuck in, pinning idea after idea, beautiful visual inspiration ad nauseum, it can also be a great jumping off point for your own ideas. [or a great resource for something you really are at a loss at, like me & cooking!]

well. truthfully, i constantly think of him with many of the ideas i see, & when i found myself pinning about 4  or 5 little ideas for his valentine, i decided this was the year for small & homemade instead of trying to decide what was the best & most affordable gift from his amazon wish list. i think once packaged all together, they turned out sweet, thoughtful, & a little cheesy, just like a valentine should be!

first things first, i saw this card. it can be tough to find a manly valentine card & i really loved it because of the vellum envelope & simplicity. i tweaked it a little by using a kraft notecard i already had and ended up writing the little phrase since i couldn't find my tiny letter stamps at the last minute. also, we just moved so i thought it had a sweet extra meaning- we've had some really cool travels together & i would follow this man to the ends of the earth & he knows it.

original idea seen via swoon

i know the 'i dig you' shovel with candy is a little kiddo-ish, but it immediately made me think of him because it was one of the first things he said to me right before we started dating that indicated he was interested in being more than just friends. the shovel came with a little bucket from the dollar tree [yellow is his favorite color] & i made a simple little shipping tag for it.

the idea is apparently originally from tori spelling's craft blog... who knew, right?

next were some fun little valentine mad libs, idea via a blog appropriately enough called dinner & a love story. we had done some in the car recently & these ones were more like a middle-of-your-busy-life love note- pretty appropriate for us right now. i printed out 2 copies & had one ready that i had filled out & one for him to fill out about me. i packaged them in little glassine envelopes with little kraft labels to indicate who's who & we traded and read them during dinner.

there were a couple of other little things i wanted to add, like cheerwine in a glass bottle, but in the end i added some of his favorite candy & was happy with how it turned out.

 ironically enough, pinterest also played a role in the epic gift he got for me! first off- i'm a strictly target/payless/old navy kind of gal when it comes to shoes. i don't spend much, so i rarely get good quality. i'd been complaining about how i'm wearing out all of my favorite shoes & how few of them fit right now while i'm pregnant, so my sweet husband went straight to my pretty to wear board & saw these awesome yellow nine west stunners:

he even did a little sleuthing to make sure what size i'm currently wearing & look what was waiting for me right after breakfast:

real shoes. foot perfection in butter soft real leather, mustard yellow.

i do so love this guy. happy valentine's day!

heart decorations!

i wrote about all the beautiful valentine images that are inspiring me right now, so here are the ways i incorporated some of them into our decor & celebration this year!

i lost our great big mantle when we moved, so this little crown molding shelf in our dining room is where i do our seasonal decorating. i actually love how clean & simple it turned out for a little valentine love!

 i kept it simple [& cheap!] by using mason jars, paper doilies & some red baker's twine. the foam glitter heart was from hobby lobby with a 40% coupon & the felt hearts were actually christmas decor that i bought super cheap after christmas from target one year!

the dining room window got a little love too with a felt & burlap heart garland that was $2.50 at target this year. i love it!

 it's the kind of thing i definitely could have made, but for $2.50 it was much wiser for me to just buy it & not add another unfinished project to the stack- i'm trying to be better about that. the felt is a little stiff so it keeps  its shape & the 'burlap' is actually unbleached cotton that has a bit of a see through look when hung on the window:

our kitchen chalkboard also got a new verse & i tried out the chalk pen i got for christmas. it will take some practice i'm sure, but we love having scripture right there where we see it all day, every day.

 

what is your favorite thing about love/heart decorations? did you do something unusual this year? i think next year i might try a different color scheme, like this green/orange/teal mantle along with the traditional red & pink:

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valentine inspiration!

i'm working on getting all the snowflakes taken down & the valentine's decor put up tonight, so i thought i'd share a couple of the pinterest ideas that are visually inspiring me right now. i'm trying to be better about using what i have rather than thinking i need to go out & buy a ton of new stuff for each holiday- & if i do, letting it be a $1 pack of doilies or something like that. i mean really, most of us have an empty jar or 2 around & i'm pretty convinced there's nothing a mason jar & some baker's twine can't make pretty!

i'm not huge on valentine's anyway, possibly because i always seem to be expecting a baby the first week of march, which leaves valentine's in the late-pregnancy, no-energy,8 months preggo mama stage. here are some of my past valentine projects i did manage to finish:

stenciled love brownie 

valentine wreath

scribbly layered kiddo valentines

felted & crocheted heart garland

i did 'splurge' a tiny bit when i saw how amazing everything in the dollar spot section of target was this year. we don't live anywhere near a target anymore, so whenever i'm there it's even more of an exercise in self control! i was having a really hard time when i found red & white baker's twine, heart & flag shaped kraft paper stickers, & a red & pink felt & burlap heart garland! they were speaking my language:

so here's some eye candy if you will [pun intended!] to get you in a valentine's kind of mood as you decorate:

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shew. don't all of those make you want to just buy/make/eat every single one? i do. although, you might be very unlike me & already have all your valentine's decorating done!

[ps- i didn't test each individual pin, so if it doesn't take you to the very original, i do apologize!]

apparently i was extra inspired by valentine's in 2011 (even though i didn't make much myself) considering i made 2 of these inspiration lists that year!

valentine's inspiration list #1
valentine's inspiration list #2

naked lampshades.

i've written quite a bit in the past about lampshades... it's not that i'm obsessed with them or anything, i just find it strange that a simple affordable one is so difficult to find. whenever i buy vintage or thrifted lamps, the lampshades that come with them are almost always damaged or terribly out of date. & i'm a firm believer that updating the shade takes the whole lamp from strange goodwill find to chic new-to-me lamp!

so. i did finally find some completely plain white ones for about $15 at target. good size, great price, but they stayed plain as i never could really figure out what to do with them. cover them in fabric? stencil a pattern in fabric paint? start over with some really cute ikat ones i wish i'd seen first?

i was trying to figure out a temporary & non-permanent solution until i decided & this is what i came up with. i had some book pages lying around from christmas crafting that were about the same height as the shade. i added some mini clothespins to keep them on & thought it turned out pretty cute!

this is the odd little corner i'm still trying to fill up now that our christmas tree isn't there anymore:

& my little temporary solution:

yep! just clipped up there! still a little more neutral than i'd like, but at least now there's a little something interesting going on with my little thrifted brown wooden lamp.

what is your favorite go-to fix for temporarily giving something some color or texture?