My Simple Valentine's Day Decor

I finished putting up my Valentine's decorations this week-I used a lot of simple whites and tans with just a hint of pinks and purples and my favorite aquas and yellows too. I admit I never used to decorate for Valentine's Day, rebelling against the whole marketing scheme to get us all to overspend, but it has become special to our whole family ever since we adopted our middle son almost two years ago on Feb. 14th! So, from now on it is "happy gotcha day" here at our house and I plan on overdoing it for my sweeties with chocolate and treats and sweets (oh, my!)  

I made the XOXO pennant as a photo prop for a wedding my husband photographed this summer thought it would be nice for love day too, so I draped it over my chicken wire frame. I painted the backing of an old frame with chalkboard paint and wrote the "be mine" message to hang next to my pennant. 

I still love these felt and lace heart dangles hanging in my windows. I made last year using starch and Mod Podge-it was an experiment that turned out nicely.

The paper hearts that hang on my key hooks were made from watercolor art my kids made, and then I cut out the shapes and used a hole punch to hang them. The chalkboard "LOVE" message was made by painting the backs of the frames with chalkboard paint, so I can change out the messages whenever I want to=the interchangeable chalkboard frame. 

The subtle "LOVE" garland that hangs on my fireplace was made from cut out circles from the translucent plastic from milk jugs. I then drew my design with a permanent white marker.

Looking forward to our big love day celebration and wishing you a happy Valentine's Day too! Next, I'll be sharing some reveal pictures of my kitchen and bathroom projects. Hope you stop by again to see what I'm up to and check out the rest of my tutorials! 

I link up with these parties. 

Paper Hearts and Burlap Valentine's Wreath

 

Love day is right around the corner...time to pack away Christmas decorations and put up some pretty hearts. You might have seen this same wreath last month when I posted about my  Christmas Burlap and Pom Pom Wreath: I had cut long strips of a burlap coffee bag and followed this tutorial:

I liked the ruffled burlap base of this wreath so much I wanted to keep it up all year, removing and adding embellishments with the different seasons and holidays. So, in the spirit of repurposing, that's just what I did.

Here's how I transformed this Christmas Wreath into a Valentine's Wreath:

First, I removed the yarn and pom poms, and stored them away for another crafty day.

Then, I cut out simple white paper hearts out of watercolor paper, folding down the middle.

I used a hole punch to make a hole at the top of each heart.
Then, I wrapped craft wire through the hole and around the base of the wreath.This will make it easier to remove the hearts when I'm ready to decorate for spring.

My V day wreath was done-simple and pretty white, five hearts for the five people in our family.

The rest of my Valentines decorating is a lot like this wreath-simple, natural, lots of whites and tans. I will be posting a few pictures soon along with more kitchen progress...

 I hope you'll come by again to take a peek!

Linking up with these parties.

Dried Orange Lantern

After inheriting a food dehydrator from my aunt, I decided the first thing I would make would be something non-edible, but pretty. Dried oranges and grapefruit slices for decorating!

 

It's as easy cutting oranges into thin slices, placing them in your food dehydrator, (or oven at 200 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours on a cookie sheet) until they are completely dried out. It took about 12 hours in my food dehydrator.

I wedged my dried oranges in between a large glass vase and a small votive candle.

It casts a pretty orange glow inside my lantern and has been the talk of my Christmas gatherings. I love when people ask me "how did you make that?"

 

 

 

There are so many other pretty uses for dried oranges I would love to try-like a wreath, garland or inside of a poured candle. I made another dried orange candle for a hand-made gift exchange this year by adding cinnamon sticks and lacing the oranges together on the outside of the glass with pretty yarn. I was told the warmed cinnamon sticks smell amazing. It's not to late to make this for a last-minute or neighbor gift idea, so easy and thrifty!

 

Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Ways to Reuse Vintage Christmas Lights

Here's an easy repurposing Christmas decorating idea I thought of while my husband was stringing up lights outside. We like to put the big fat vintage looking lights out there. But one strand wasn't working. Instead of throwing the whole thing out, I unscrewed the lightbulbs and put all the blue, green and white ones inside of a hanging lantern in my dining room.  

Then I filled a mason jar with the warm colors, red and orange.

I like it because it's fun, easy and unexpected. And I'm not piling lightbulbs into a landfill...
Next, I'll show you my fireplace facelift. Something about Christmas coming gave me the itch to finally paint the dark brick to transform the look completely. Stay tuned for the big reveal! 

Linking up with these parties

Simple Thanksgiving Felt Garland

So, the holiday season is here again. You might have noticed, I haven't been posting as much as when I started this blog a year ago. I have been on a crafting/project marathon this past year-so many projects completed, so many new ideas and techniques I got to try! It's been a lot of fun sharing my ideas and "meeting" all of you! I have been overwhelmed with your nice comments and thrilled with being featured on bigger sites.

But I have decided to take it slow for the next few months. Anyone who blogs knows how time consuming it and even competitive it can be, especially during this season. But I just want to enjoy time with my family and friends. Yes, I do have a few Christmas ideas up my sleeve and I hope you get a chance to check out last year's ideas. I hope you will still stay with me. In the spirit of recycling I am reposting this Thanksgiving idea from last year: Simple Thanksgiving Felt Garland.

I love Thanksgiving--it is such a simple season of gratitude--I think it's important to remember the ways we are blessed. I always think it's a shame that this holiday often gets overlooked by the rushed Christmas season ahead.

This year, I decided to celebrate a little early and decorate with a simple reminder to "be thankful". I have been loving all the machine sewn together felt garland I've seen around different blogs and on Pinterest.

Since I don't have a sewing machine yet,  I decided to put an old-fashioned spin on designing my own by hand stitching the garland.  I was excited to find some recycled felt made from Eco-Fi-made from 100% post-consumer plastic bottles by the brand Creatology. Plastic bottles never felt so soft...

Here's what you'll need to make this project: 

Yarn needle

Felt in various colors

Fabric scissors

Yarn-I used two types of textures, but used the smooth kind for the lettering

Glue gun or tacky glue

Small circular containers in different sizes to trace-try a spice jar or medicine cup.

Pen or pencil 

First, I traced my circles around the containers-I alternated between two different sizes.

Then, I cut out each circle until I had enough to spell out my words. I used 11 circles.

Next, I threaded my yarn needle with the wavy yarn and stitched loosely through the center of the first circle.

I repeated the process, leaving about an inch between circles, until I ended up with a long chain of circles, like this:

To make the words, "be thankful" I cut small pieces of straight orange yarn and just looped and connected the pieces to form each letter. I then glued each letter to the center of the circle.

(keep in mind that I formed the letters first before trying to glue them!)





Are you ready to see the finished garland?  Here it is!

a shot from below, the garland is held in place by the gourds:

I love my colorful reminder to "be thankful"...

If you liked this idea, I hope you get inspired by checking out the rest of my holiday tutorials! And be blessed this season...

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

Linking up with these parties:

Fabric Acorns (No-Sew!)

Well, after a busy and fun summer filled with big, big painting projects I worked on a teeny, tiny fall project that I love and was so easy to make--adorable fabric acorns. The best part is the ones I made are no-sew! (and no worm...real acorns are filled with them!)

I first saw this idea in BHG from Sweet Paul. The ones he made were velvetey fabric, which looked amazing...but a weird fact about me is I can't stand the feel of it...so I made mine with soft, silky touchable  fabric scraps in some of my favorite colors, finishing them off with a tiny bead on the end. These are so easy a kid could make them! So, if you want to get started...

Trash To Treasure Gallery Wall

This summer I worked on remodeling my bathroom by adding a fresh coat of paint, a new mirror, lighting and as a finishing touch, a colorful gallery wall. Can you believe everything I used came from thrift store junk? I choose the pieces that had an interesting shape and the potential for prettiness-because I know what paint can do!

Below is everything I used to create the look above: 
Stainless steel platters, outdated Avon recipe plates, cast iron owl trivets...stuff you might just throw away, or transform like I did!

Here's what I did to create my gallery wall: 

DIY Wedding Photo Props and Decor

I have been having whipping up custom pennants for my husband's photo shoots lately. I pretty much see pennants/bunting everywhere these days, and I am honestly not tired of them yet!  I think they are so versatile and pretty and are the perfect way to decorate for a wedding birthday party or simply a room in the house. 

And all you need are a few scraps of fabric here and there to make them. I have repurposed denim for my boys' name pennants for their room, cut out felt for my"happy birthday" banner and even made a small fabric one for my vintage chalkboard. 

My latest ones are made of repurposed leftover IKEA curtain fabric and some upholstery samples. (Anyone who has bought IKEA curtains knows they come extremely long and you always have to trim them down-glad I found new use for the fabric instead of just tossing it...IKEA would be so proud...) 

Maybe you've made a few, maybe this will be your first time but they are so easy, I promise. And, they are no sew! 

Here's what you'll need: 

-leftover fabric

-monogram stencil

-twine 

-permanent marker

-glue gun

-fabric scissors

-Basically, you cut out one triangle and trace the rest from the first one, then cut out. 

-Hot glue each one to a long piece of twine

-Use your permanent marker to stencil your letters

-Embellish by cutting out  hearts, whatever and you're done! 

Here is the "hugs and kisses" wedding pennant I made for one wedding photo shoot. (I think the newlyweds loved it!)

And here is the "vowed" pennant for this sweet couple.

(I like these so much I think I might hang them up in the house around Valentine's Day...)
There are so many ways to customize pennants and using a permanent marker instead of fabric paint makes them really fast and easy to make. I hope they never go out of style! Later on I'll show you a really cute one I made for a one year old photo shoot.

Hope you enjoyed these and if you liked what you saw here, feel free to browse around and check out more of my tutorials, and thanks for stopping by ReMadeSimple!