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

diy paint stick barn star!

i really wanted to hang a red wooden barn star on our plain white front door this year. i'd seen some at an antiques fair/open house thing i went to on my birthday, but just couldn't justify $30 bucks for one. when i got home and couldn't stop thinking about them, i went scrounging in my craft room to see if i had anything that could work. lo & behold, my good friend the simple paint stirrer came to my rescue!

-what you need: 10 paint stir sticks, red craft paint, hot glue & large silvery thumbtacks [optional]

-i started as always by cutting off the curvy part of the stir sticks & sanding the cut edge [i use a little handsaw to score both sides & then it snaps right off!]

 -give all your star 'legs' a swipe of red craft paint. i just painted right over the orange home depot printed side!

 -lay out your star 'legs' into a star shape on the floor

-hot glue each of the 2 'leg' sections to make the 5 pointy sections to make the star. cut the pointy part off of your thumbtacks with strong wire cutters & glue them on top of each connection spot.

 -repeat for all 5 sections of the star. if you don't like the way the star shape is turning out, you can gently pop the glued parts apart & reposition.

 ta da! you have a barn star! i love the way it turned out, but i do think i'm going to pop mine apart a little bit & readjust- it turned out a little wonky & looked much better the way i originally laid it out on the floor. just needs a little tweaking!

i put a large plastic snowflake hanging behind it on our front door & i absolutely love how it looks! it adds so much color & festive to our front door!

hymn page crosses!

i found these little paper mache crosses the same day i bought my stars at hobby lobby. i thought they'd be pretty fun to prettify, especially since my husband is now a pastor & we're celebrating our first christmas at our new church! speaking of, even if you don't work at a church these would make awesome 'little something' gifts for your pastor, sunday school teacher, church pianist, etc if you're looking for one more handmade but easy & inexpensive gifts!

-all you need is: a paper mache cross [or other shape], hymn or book pages, plain white school glue & glitter glue

-spread glue on one front side of your cross &h stick the paper to it, smoothing out bubbles gently. let it dry. if you'd like, you can carefully position the paper so that a special song title is centered on the cross [like i did with the 'amazing grace' one]

-once the glue is completely dry, carefully cut around the shape, leaving a little bit of a border. gently tear away the border to leave a jagged edge. careful not to tear it off the cross!

-add glitter glue around the edge of the paper. repeat on the back if you'd like. add a jute loop with hot glue for hanging!