Creative, Re-purposed Decorations for Valentine’s Day

[As always, click on any photo to view it larger]

Call me creative or just plain lazy (LOL)….  but this year, I kept up a few of my Christmas decorations and re-purposed them, with a “Valentine” look.

Remember this pretty garland? 

Once I removed the ribbon, “Merry Christmas” sign and the tabletop decorations, I noticed how beautiful and wintry the greenery looked, so I just added some glittered red hearts (wall hangings cut-apart from the dollar section of Target), red velvet heart picks from The Dollar Store and my “smooch” stickers (purchased a few years ago).

Total cost to take it from Christmas to Valentine’s Day: $3.00

And remember this tree?

I replaced the hanging ornaments (on the curtain rod) with a simple valance I sewed, using $3.00 worth of fabric from Wal-mart and added a $3.00 felt heart garland from Target to trim it out.

The tree ornaments are 3-piece, glittered Valentine wall hangings (from the dollar section of Target) that I cut apart and used alongside cardboard hearts (removed from a $4.00 Walgreen’s wreath).  I added one new thing that softened the look of the white tree and made a wonderful garland – inexpensive light pink feather boas!  For the base, I made a pink cupcake liner (from poster board) to replace the blue (Christmas) one and exchanged the glittered ornaments, tucked in the pink frosting (spray painted polyester batting) with sprinkles, which I made from leftover poster board and paper.  The Christmas tree was bright and happy, whereas the Valentine’s Day tree is soft and sweet!

I’ll be hosting a Valentine themed meeting next month, so I test-drove the table cover, dishes and chair decorations to see how they’ll look too.  I’m loving this lush, pink color!  And by the way, the chair decorations are nothing more than another glittered “Conversation Heart” wall hanging I also found in the dollar section at Target and tied on the back of the chair with an inexpensive piece of ribbon.

It was fun to fill my cabinets with Valentine goodies too and I re-purposed some Christmas decorations there… can you spot them?

 

Remember this cookie tree from Christmas? 

I covered the star (on the top) with a couple of the cardboard hearts and of course, placing it next to a couple of Valentine cupcakes creates an instant Valentine’s Day treat!

Remember this cake plate with a red bow, from Christmas?

It’s just as cute under a Department 56 Valentine house! 

I use my apothecary jars year round, including Christmas.  I changed the candy, in several of them to Conversation Hearts (for Valentine’s Day) but kept the pastel jelly beans in one because the colors were perfect!

 

Here’s an idea you might want to try – use apothecary jars as frames by adding a few Conversation Hearts and tucking your photos or vintage Valentine Cards inside.  You could display photos of you and your sweetie or your kids/grandkids.  It’s just a different way to display photos or other keepsakes without purchasing a separate & costly Valentine’s Day frame.  And hey… it makes a real conversation piece too!

Stay tuned for a Shabby Chic idea for Valentine’s Day (blog post) next, coming up in a couple of days!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Enjoy the Creativity…

EILEEN

Halloween 2011

[Click on any photo for a larger view]

The Seasonal Home is decked out in it’s Halloween best and this year, it’s a little S-P-O-O-K-Y!

In my previous post, I showed you an inexpensive fireplace idea.  I was inspired by the Crow (on the mantel), so I spread a few more around the room, beginning with my french doors.    I found a generous package of 15 die-cut paper Crows at The Dollar Tree and with a little double-sided tape, I used them to create the old design trick of bringing the outside in.    

This would also be a fun idea to use in front door sidelights or window.

And below, in The Seasonal Home’s built-in cabinet, I purchased a few Dollar Tree crows and dressed them up, for Halloween, in little witches hats…

 

If this look is too plain for you, consider what I tried next… also from the Dollar Tree!    Inspired by this idea (I found on the net), I decided to add a background to THE SEASONAL HOME’s built-in cabinet.  Using newspaper to create a pattern , I drew a tree and used it as a pattern to create a spooky tree on 2 pieces of black poster board.

Here’s how this look turned out –

The foyer in THE SEASONAL HOME has been transformed into a Magic Potion and Spell conjuring laboratory….  

And in the Living Room… some Fall and just a bit ‘o spooky –

THE SEASONAL HOME’s kitchen is ready for guests….

and the best part is…. I created a CANDY BAR this year!  I thought this would be a fun treat for the adult guests, I’m entertaining this season, to once again enjoy a little (retro) Trick or Treating fun.  I looked for the most inexpensive candies I could find (avoid a lot of chocolate to stay on budget) and used every jar I could find in my house and anyone elses (lol).  I purchased one (1) package of “blank” Halloween labels at Michaels Craft Store for under $4 (with coupon), and using my computer – typed my label wording in a spooky font, lined things up and ran a test print.  When I held the label up behind the piece of printer paper, I saw that my estimated font size was good & lined up perfectly, so I taped the label to the corner of my paper (using double-sided tape) and ran them through the printer,  one at a time.  Once I finished printing them all, I grabbed some twine from the garage, punched 2 holes in the top of each label, fed the twine through and knotted one end.  Next, I pulled it tight around the neck of each jar, fed it through the 2nd hole, knotted it, cut off any excess and in no time, my jars were labeled for very little cost. Check out the finished product and help yourself! 🙂

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

Grab a goodie bag to fill!

Who’s that standing in line for his share of the candy? Eeek!!!

It’s a LEMON-y, LIME-y Summer!

It’s a fact that “Summer” is the longest (holiday) season of all.  So….. why not place a few inexpensive summer accents around the room you inhabit the most (at this time of year)?

In my case, it’s the kitchen & dining room area, where I’m constantly whipping up pitchers of cool summer beverages and tasty snacks to feed the troops.  To me, Lemons bring back such a nostalgic feeling and memories of my first lemonade stand, so I decided to surround myself with this theme to keep a hot summer light & fresh.  Also consider other citrus fruits… like oranges or pineapples!

[If you like this black & white look, but haven’t found any curtains or valances like mine, there’s a good reason.  I wanted to “freshen up” my black & white toile accents for summer so I looked for a valance that had a more young & contemporary pattern… perfect for summer!  Of course, you can never find what you’re looking for if you look in the NORMAL spots, so I started checking ALL the (Home Dept.) clearance sections of every store I went in to.  Finally… EUREKA!  I found some clearanced (teen) sheets in K-Mart.  This set was an off brand and was marked down to $10!  I only needed the top flat sheet to make 2 valances (1 not shown) for my kitchen area.   I sewed them, using my basic straight sewing skills and a little black ribbon trim.    However, you could use self-stick sewing tape and create this adorable valance with no sewing machine at all.  Total investment: $15 for two (2) cute & contemporary valances… yea!  I hope you find a cute pattern too. :-)]

[click on any of the photos below to view a larger image]

Real and faux Lemons and Limes encircle a vase of fresh yellow, white and green summer flowers. Placing your vase (and fruit) on top of a cake plate adds another level of interest to your arrangement!

Keep your counter or tabletop accessories simple so your lemon and or lime accents really POP!

Don't forget side areas in the room! Just look at how this small lemon wreath alongside a few (faux) lemon and lime accents adds that Summer-y touch to this Key West print.

Simply adding a small wreath of lemons around an everyday shelf accent extends my Summery theme into this cabinet display.

Keep accent furniture (around the room) in mind as you complete a summer theme in your home. Here, I tucked in a "lime" green pillow (see black bench) for the perfect final touch!

For more ideas, check out the ABOUT THE AUTHOR page!