Hearty Crafts

No, I’m not referencing Campbell’s Chunky Soup. Although, I will admit that I do love a hearty meal (or bowl of soup) as much as the next person. I’m talking about hearts… love… Valentine’s Day!  I mentioned in this post that I had a few Valentine’s Day crafts I wanted to make at home, very inexpensively, to decorate and spruce up our house for the holiday of love.

My first project was pom pom garland. The entire project cost a whopping $3.00 and maybe 30 minutes. I love it. It is so fun to walk through the house and see the colorful strands hanging in the middle of our dining room.

The next few projects were made possible thanks to one of my favorite places, The Target Dollar Spot. You know the place; those 2 wonderful isles at the front of every Target store that sell some super cute (and some super weird, but we’ll take the bad with the good!) items for $1.00 - $2.50 each. Love! After a trip to Target over my lunch break one day last week, I came home with these wonderful finds.

I used the colorful paper and pink letter stickers to make this Scrabble-like word frame. *Side note: Caton and I (along with other siblings, cousins, and friends that have the iPhone) are officially hooked on the app called Words with Friends. Haven’t heard of it? Check it out. Now! It is so much fun and provides endless hours of entertainment, but at your own speed. You play scrabble on your phone against another person (or multiple people) but each person plays at their own pace. So, if Caton plays a word and I don’t have time to check my phone for a few minutes (or hours) the game will be on hold until I make my next move and it allows him to play again. So addicting and so competitive. * Anyway, so we have been playing this game and it has my mind on letters and words at all times. I have seen a few other people/blogs do things like this with Scrabble letters from the actual game and I definitely plan on taking on that project once I find a super-cheap game or letters for sale at a thrift store of some kind. As for the frame, that was a clearance item that was spray painted black a few months ago that I had laying around just waiting to be used for the perfect project. 

Isn’t it cute?! And yes, it’s totally and completely and purposefully a play on two things close to my heart, the song Forever And Ever, Amen by Randy Travis and the book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I just love both of these. The 1998 hit by Mr. Travis is a classic; at least it is in my book! It’s still hard to believe I was in 8^th grade when this song was released. It has always been a special song to Caton and me. So special, actually, that it was a front-runner for our 1^st Dance at our wedding. Ultimately, Cross My Heart by George Strait was chosen as our song, but we still made sure to play Forever And Ever, Amen during the reception and two-stepped to it together. Ah, the memories! And I’ll never forget my Mom reading Love You Forever to us countless times while we were growing up. It is such a special book and message. This post has just turned into a wonderful trip down memory lane, hasn’t it?!

Ok, back to my Dollar Spot finds. I used the large glittery red heart, the foam ‘LOVE’ and the foam heart to make a few more pieces of “heart art”. My favorite thing about these decorations is that they consist mainly of things I already have around our house, which makes it inexpensive and convenient. From the frames, to the patterned paper, to the hot glue, it was all extremely cost efficient.

My last project gift was inspired by my adorable nephew, Scotty, and this blog post. Scotty is obsessed with all things super heroes right now, especially Spiderman. He’s a 5-year-old Spidey wannabe. In the last year we have had a Spiderman-themed Christmas, birthday, and any other special-little-day (or regular-old-day) so I thought why not carry it on through Valentine’s Day?! Here they are in all of their heart-shaped, red-iced, black-webbed, Spidey-loved glory.

They were a huge hit, and pretty tasty as well! Oh, and if you ask Scotty, the 'S' stands for Scotty, not Spidey. Don't mind the chocolates in his mouth or his baby brother, Aiden, jumperoo-ing in the background trying to get our attention.

Well, that wraps up my DYI Valentine’s Day décor. Did you find any heart-shaped inspiration this year? Come up with any fun projects to help celebrate the holiday in your home? Please, share the love! J

I know I’m looking forward to spending Love Day with My Love!