Creating Continued.....

Well last night I was able to get my creative soul revived. Actually, Hailey and her friend, Britney, joined in my artsy evening. We got a lot of very cute valentine projects done to spruce up the piano we inherited a few months back. I am so excited that it is all vintage inspired since the piano comes from Mike's grandma (Gigi) and was a gift to her from Mike's grandpa early in their marriage. We don't have any piano players as of yet but I definitely plan to have Gracie take some lessons so this beautiful family heirloom gets some use for the next generations. The other cool thing is that we used other items which we inherited from Gigi this past year when she moved out of her home in a nursing home. I love that we get to use these beautiful items and I can't wait to send some pictures to her to see how we love her beautiful things in our home.

My first project was creating a valentine collage with some of things I found in the "Tickled Pink" package I bought at "Retreat" on Friday. I also used some red glitter that I bought to use at Christmas and never used. As well, I used ribbon and buttons that I had stashed away. I just love how it turned out and the fact that the base of the collage uses piano sheet music and the Valentine vignette is displayed on the piano.

I also had some cute little nests left over from another project and I placed little pink and white buttons in them.

This little metal cash register was also something that came from Gigi and Mike remembers playing with it as a kid when he would visit his grandparents house. I thought it would be a perfect addition to the little display. I used more buttons to fill the resister compartments and added a little vintage flower and another nest to cutie it up a bit.

This little vintage book page was also in the little bag of goodies I bought and so I embellished it with some little buttons and silvery glitter (hard to see but it is on the flowers in the illustration). Then I glued it to a piece of vintage paper and folded it in half to make a little tent so it would stand upright.

When I was in Snohomish I picked up a few more vintage valentines to add to my collection. I used a little card holder that I had in my cupboard and then placed in yet another Gigi "hand me up". It is red glass candy dish which I stuffed with some of the vintage ribbons that were in the goodie pack. This was so simple but made such a sweet little decoration!

The next little goodie was made by Hailey. I found an old box of chocolates in the cupboard that had never been opened. I know pretty gross but I threw out the chocolates and then Hailey made this adorable vintage inspired cover for the lid of the chocolate box. She used some of the vintage paper, french language cards, buttons, and little vintage flower. So adorable!!!

This last project was my favorite and it looks way cuter in person but hopefully you can imagine how it looks for real! I found this cherub angel figurine for really cheap at one of the antique stores in Snohomish on Friday and then I adorned it with a simple red ribbon sash. In the bowl that the angel is holding up I placed another nest and I then adorned it with red glittery little eggs (which Britney glittered), pink rick rack ribbon, another vintage valentine and used a cut up old school book vocabulary page and made little flags with them and stuck them into the nest.

When Mike saw the red sparkly eggs he said he had never seen those kind of eggs before and was wondering what kind of bird layed those kind of eggs. I told him the "love bird" of course!!!
I attached another french language flash card and disguised the meaning on the back side.........of course when you flip it over it is the perfect kind of language for Valentine's day.

I also tried to use words that created a mood for Valentine's day for the little flags too!!!

I only spent 2 hours on these little projects and the result was so amazing!!!! Perfect for our upcoming annual "Romantic Family Dinner" for Valentine's day.

I love to decorate for the holidays and the house always gets a change over around the holiday of love. Here is some other areas in the house that I have made perfect for the season...

Our little table in the corner of our family room....

I had pictures taken of the girls a few years back and they are brought out just for Valentine's day. Decked out in a big red wooden frame they are both holding up a large candy heart. I love 40's and 50's vintage and so a couple years back I was in heaven when I found cute little ceramics at Target that were inspired by this era of Valentines.This cute little Valentine house was one that I got from a friend who was selling Dept. 56 when they had their home sales business going. When I saw it I knew it was perfect to go along with my other vintage decorations. I just love the little kid figurines in front presenting their little valentine goodies to each other. It kind of reminds me of when I was in kindergarten. I had this little boyfriend and I will never forget bringing into class on Valentine's day a basket full of red heart candies all individually wrapped with cellophane and adorned with red curly ribbon (which of course my mom put together) and I will never forget the look on my little boyfriends face...he was so so excited.I love this valentine platter that I got at Target...I can't wait to take it out every Valentine's day.Another thing I love to do is put my vintage valentines underneath the glass in the table. They look so cute against the red check table cloth that decorates the table.The valentines are just so adorable and funny. They don't make anything like this anymore. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era.I use the rest of my Target valentine plates in a plate rack that I change up every month or so.More cute valentine decorations on a little metal shelf in the family room.Finally, the mantle gets a face lift too. Just little valentine frames and more vintage inspired cards and little match boxes that I found a few years back a Joyworks. Also, a cute little valentine heart banner that I made with the nieces when they came and played with me on Fridays two year ago. The hardest time for me is right after Valentines. It is not quite spring but I just can't seem to get inspired to decorate for St. Patrick's day. What is a creative girl to do????

I am glad I got the projects done last night because today I have really felt under the weather....perfect for blogging though;)