Oy!

I am on Day 3 of Christmas take-down and Valentine put-out. I finally have all of the rooms decorated but NOT all of the Christmas stuff packed away just yet! And, I don't have the tree down. I simply can't bring myself to take down this tree. It is the best tree I have ever had and, even though I stopped watering it before I headed to Charleston, it is hardly dropping a needle. Even the greens that I had cut from the bottom branches and used around the house in arrangements were still fresh and needles firmly attached as I took them out to the garbage pick-up. 

And so, the tree stays up and the garage will get tackled when it gets tackled. But, I wasn't entirely happy with the living room decor and knew I had a few Valentine crafts I have been thinking of doing so, I gave myself a bit of today "off" and got busy.

I must say, I have missed crafting-I would definitely rather be doing that than cleaning...but, I digress. And so, I gathered the supplies I had picked up over the last few shopping outings.

I knew the first thing I wanted to do was a vintage Valentine wreath like I did for Halloween. I have been downloading vintage images so I could print up what I needed. And that had been my plan until 1: I am almost out of printer ink and didn't have any inclination to go out and buy some and 2: I came across a large bag of Valentines that I used to display in the dough bowl for the holiday.

Many of them were the exact images that I have in my download file. I have collected these cards for years and they were exactly what I wanted.

The circular wreath shape is from $ Tree. It was 3-D and I didn't want that so I stepped on it to flatten it out. I knew in doing so that some of the "supports" would probably pop - and they did - but, for the way that I was using this form, there was no issue.

I knew I wanted to wrap the form but the color was an issue. I had white fabric - which was too white - and a linen - which was too drab. I am a bit of a traditionalist and "red" says Valentines to me! And so, I had a piece of red fabric and ripped it into strips. I then used some hot glue and wrapped it around the form to cover. The  circle isn't exactly perfect because I popped the supports but, since I knew I wasn't going to need a perfect round since the cards would be overhanging the edges, it was fine...and, actually as I look at it here, it looks pretty darn circular! Lol

And then I simply played with the cards until I had an arrangement that I liked and put a dot of hot glue under each image. It took a bit of tweaking but I like it.

I was going to hang it in the entryway but changed my mind and put it over the large mirror in the living room - over the chest.

I will say that I am not a fan of how you can see the back of the wreath in the mirror. Maybe it needs to be hung somewhere else-we shall see. But, never-the-less, I love that I have another vintage wreath for another holiday. If I could have found one still in stock anywhere, I probably would have bought one because they are made from wood and will hold up much longer but, since I couldn't, I think except for the wreath form at $1.25, this project was free to me!

And once again, I have another "one of these things doesn't belong here" moments. Lol

I can't help it. This tree is so pretty at night. It makes me happy. Who knows, it may be here in juxtaposition with St. Pat's the next time you see it. Lol

I hope to have all of my loose ends wrapped up soon and be back to start our Valentine 2023 tour! Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.