I heart U!

It's that time of year again! Valentines Day...or V-Day as I like to call it. Here's a shout out to all of the florist that will be working hard!
I have done this a bunch of times with different letters depending on the season. I love this as my "go-to" decoration. And the best part is that is so affordable! You can make it however you want! Here is what I did:

These picture frames are from Wal-Mart and they run about $3 in the 5x7. They are wood, so it's a little bit nicer.
I found this pink and white hounds tooth paper at Hobby Lobby. Do you not love that or what? I had to have that!
OK, so here is how it went together:

 So the wood letters are from Hobby Lobby too. Just .99! Yeah! Gotta love that price. I got the unfinished ceramic heart there also. It was .99 but on sale for 40% off.
I usually glitter these letter, but I wanted to something a little bit different. Don't get me wrong, I love glitter just as much as any girl, but I did not have any in pink. I love my Valentines Day decor to have a more hand0made look to it.

I got some pink paper and tore it up into pieces. You can use ModPodge, but just to show you that you don't have to use that, I just used some regular school glue. I just added a little bit of water to the glue. After you have the paper torn, paint some of the glue on the back and press it onto the letter. I tore mine so that the white part of the tear would show. You can mold it and press it to match the shape of the letter. Let it dry.

I had a bunch of different ideas for the heart, but I went with this and loved how it came out. I spray painted the heart with some hot pink paint (left-over from another project). After it was dried I got out some paper doilies that I had...it's always amazes me what I can find in my garage...or other places that I have crafty things! Time to let it dry, but not for long because I am not very patient!

I laid the lace on top of the heart to see where I wanted to trim. Yep, I fussy cut it. What does that mean? You sometimes waste fabric or paper in this case because you want the patter in a certain way. Trim it so there is about 1/2" extra so that it can be folded in the back of the heart.

 Next, add a thin layer of glue to the heat and cover it with the dollie. Wrap the paper around the back and add some glue to hold down the edges.

 

After it's dry, glue it to the outside of the paper. This is after you have cut the paper 5x7. Set it on top of the glass. I added a little extra ribbon on top of the heart. You can see some glitter in the heart...I had to use a little bit! And as you know with glitter, it ends up everywhere!

Here, I added a touch of glitter just to the edge of the letters. I like how that came out! It was glitter that I had from my days when I used to make cards. I used a heat gun to emboss the glitter.

So there you have " I Heart U".

Fun and easy to make!

You can see where I got the original ideas to make these frames at eighteen25

Love those Vegas ladies and the ideas they come up with!

A way to clean that floral vase...

OK, so this is not earth shattering, but it can come in handy. We used to do this in the flower shop as a way to clean up vases. All you need is some Denture Tablets and you vase with some water.

 Here the tablet is in the water, fizzing up. This is a fun thing for your kids to watch too! If you have a pretty large vase, you might need to add 2 tablets. You can get a box of these denture tablets at any grocery store or pharmacy. Get the generic kind to save money and this box will last you forever!

 

 I am doing a few vases here at a time. I just let them sit overnight...

 

Now all you have to do is dump the water and take a paper towel to wipe out that ring and it really clean! Give it a quick rinse of clean water and let the vase dry upside down. Now they are clean and ready for that next bunch of fresh flowers!

Flower Art...sort of

I just wanted to show you all a picture of some flowers that I did for a national design contest. I did not win, but it was so much fun to do! You had to work with the flowers that they gave you and the rest was up to the designer. Mine was inspired by my little girls love of fairies!

I added some green food coloring to the water along with all the gems and glitter garland to give it a little extra fairy touch!

Hope this year is filled with JOY!

I hope that you all had a Christmas and New Years! We sure did! Nothing like Christmas with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. So much fun!
I wanted to post this sooner, but we have had house full of sick kids. This is a craft that I have done with the 5x7 frames from WalMart and the letters from Hobby Lobby. It's so fun and so easy!

See the instructions here: BOO