- Valentine's Day Mantel -

- Friday, February 14th, 2014 - Valentine's Day - Vendredi 14 Fevrier 2014 - Le Jour de la Saint Valentin- 

Our Valentine's Day Mantel

For Valentine's Day this year, I decorated our mantel using and re-purposing what we have in the house and found some great (free) printable online. The color palette was: black, grey/silver, red and white. I think that it turned out great for a first time. It was just nice and simple :-) This post is coming late but I really wanted to share our mantel. 

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On this picture you have a "Silver Heart Love Frame" and a "Love Black Bottle".

• Silver Heart Love Frame

The picture in the frame is from Landeelu. It is a beautiful, nice and simple design but with a lot of character. I put it in a silver frame that I had around the house and voila. I reduced the size of the printable to fit my frame (11 by 9) and printed on strong white paper. Check Landeelu website. She has a lot of great ideas. 

• Black Love Bottle

The black bottle was made several years ago. It was collecting dust in the basement. After all those years, I finally found a purpose for the bottle. That was why, I could not get rid of it. I recycled a clear glass bottle and applied several quotes of black acrylic paint and painted some flowers around it using white. I did not finished it with a clear stain this time. To fit the mantel, I added some ribbons of different colors, patterns and dimensions. I placed them loose around the collar of the bottle. A knot was not good enough to hold it and a double knot was not looking good, so I saw each ribbon together to do the trick. The finishing touch was some tall and thin bamboo looking sticks that I had in the basement collecting dust as well. 

The Valentine's Day printable in the black frame was retrieved for free from How to Nest for Less. I printed it on strong white paper. I only had this black frame which was way too big for a regular 8.5 by 11 in. To cover the empty space to have a mat effect, I used silk paper that I had in my wrapping paper supply that I cut to the dimension on the black frame (18 by 15). My silk paper was a bit wrinkled and fixed it by spaying a little water on it and ironed it on the the low setting. 

Joyeuse St Valentin!

Laetitia :-)

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Suggestions for Next Year

1. Switch from white to red candles.
2. A valentine theme inspired pot for the plant. I saw some nice ones at a thrift store early February.
3. Find or make a red button to sew on the white ribbon - Maybe I should use a small heard piece of wood from my supplies, make some holes and a quote of red paint and stain.
4. Make a small bag using the tutorial of Petite Purls or the design of a traditional rice bag.
5. Replace the plastic heard with one made from a piece of fabric.
6. Add another square frame and print the Heart from Landeelu.