Feast or Famine!

For a few weeks I have been wanting to craft but I was just not seeing anything that gave me any kind of inspiration. I had a hair appointment yesterday so after that I headed out to a few stores to pick up anything that struck my fancy. I really didn't have any ideas but I grabbed stuff I thought I might be able to use-eventually.

 This is a bit of what I got. And then I gathered up some stuff that I already had and looked at that carefully and all of a sudden, inspiration struck. So much so, in fact, that the first Valentine craft I made is almost exactly like something I discovered I had pinned on Pinterest. I had fun doing it because I hadn't crafted in awhile and was ready to get back to it but, it is again not going to go on my list of favorites. Let me show you the process and then I'll tell you why it's not entirely moving me.

I started with a heart from $Tree and cut a piece of paper to cover most of it. Then I played around with the flowers I bought at HL and the "love" word. Once I was OK with that, I ModPodged on the paper and then found a piece of handmade paper that I had from years ago when we made paper with my grand daughter's G.S. troop. We actually made that paper for a Valentine craft we were doing at the time and they had fun adding small fibers and glitter to it. That piece got added to the wood heart so it is now all covered and "love" got painted pink.

 Then I used one of my new ink blenders to grunge the edges. I also found a "keyhole" and "key" in my Tim Holtz stuff so I painted them up as well. I think it was at this point that I decided that I didn't want this to hang so I took the candle holder I got from $Tree-that I thought I might use for Easter-and spray painted it a taupe color and then "smushed" some floral foam into the opening.

I glued on two small pieces of dowel and glued it on the back of the heart and then inserted it into the foam. The picture is horrible but it will give you the idea...it's too late to go back for another picture now. Lol

At that point it was obvious that a messy bow was necessary to cover the connection. I just used lace ribbon, strips of muslin, pink ribbons and some dark pink cord. Then, I broke a small heart off of the heart skewers I had picked up in $Tree and glued it on.

And, because I never really liked the way the top shelf of the baker's rack was looking, that is where this ended up.

And now for why it will never be a favorite. First, I had to use the wrong kind of flowers...at least for my liking. I would have so rather have used the paper flowers found in the scrapbooking section of HL. Unfortunately, they were not on sale this week and, quite honestly at $6.99 a package and knowing that I would need 4-5 packages, I'm not sure I would have gotten them even if they were on sale.

And next, you know I am just not that into the pastels. I did want this to have more of the romantic Valentine feel so softer colors were definitely called for but, again, I'm not loving the flowers I had to go with. I found these flowers in the bridal section of HL-also not on sale but SO much less expensive. I went with them because they are much smaller than the regular flowers but I think they're still a bit too imposing. Hmmmm, maybe I'll go back and hit them with some distressing ink or wax. We shall see. 

I just started Valentine project #2...

...and then I'll be on to St. Pat's. I'll be back tomorrow to show you what comes next. Stay safe and stay tuned.