Love is in the Air...

Love is in the Air

A few odds and ends I found around the house that gave me Valentine inspiration. I like to momentarily set items out in a display format before decorating just to give me a general idea and theme(s) for the seasons crafts, decor, and ambiance.

A "Love Nest" wreath that couldn't have been easier to make (and considering the baby naps are usually not long I needed and easy one). It consists of a basic grapevine wreath, some turkey feathers that I wrote on and stamped on, some festive strings, ripped up paper doily hearts, a cage ($2 at Michale's), two glittered red birds (from the Christmas party centerpieces I did last year), and two tiny vintage Valentine cards. According to my friends, I am a romantic because I propped the cage open to symbolize the freedom that love brings while also providing a safe haven to return to. So, there you have it, a love nest.

One of my families favorite seasonal/holiday things I do is to change the plate wall. Over the years I have collected plates from various places for relatively cheap. I pick one or two new ones a year and add to the seasonal switch up. A good place to find seasonal colored and themed plates is at Target.

I use the wobbly, pathetic microwave stand (Not enough financial wiggle room at this point in life for that sweet antique service board I intend to fine and refinish in grey-white) in my kitchen to display seasonal dishes and food. The (as I like to call it) junk candy is for display only. We only go for the real organic treats here -so these conversation hearts -they are two years old. I just store the candy in ziplock bags and reuse it each year until it is too gross to do so. :-)

My boys and I made these Crayon Wax Hearts. HERE IS HOW TO MAKE THEM: Heat an iron to low. Take clear wax paper and cut it into enough hearts to have two pieces to one heart (it will depend on how many total hearts you want) lace string or ribbon on top of cut out and adhere with a bit of hot glue, tape, or glue stick -all work well enough. Chose some old crayons in valentine (or any) color you want. Grate crayons on a cheese grater and place crayon shavings on wax paper cutouts. Place another wax paper cut out on top of the crayon shavings. Gently and quickly run iron over wax paper long enough to melt the wax -making sure to also seal in the string and its adhesive. Be careful when loading on crayon shavings -if you put too much on, the wax will leak out when pressed between wax paper under the iron. Hang in a place that gets good sunlight and enjoy!

This is from Michael's craft and almost too cute to use!

Red Valentine dress and my mother and my favorite holiday book!

Enya's fluffy red dress and a little bit of Aloha to remember our trip to Hawaii on Valentine's Day a few years back.

The living room has gold, light pink, grey, and white for the colors. I have a lot of metallic tone in our living room so I wanted to incorporate unconventionally colored Valentine decor. Gold chalkboard paper (or any color chalkboard paper) is my new obsession! Cupid arrows stick out of gold branches and light pink decoupage boxes soften things up a bit. And just FYI -I erased and fixed the sign to look better than this, but I didn't take another picture. I had to get that out there because I am a perfectionist and it was buggin'. ;-)

I am always a bit challenged when it comes to our off center, unusual, but beautiful fireplace mantle. Sometimes I get too stuck in my traditional centered decorating ways, so I love that this mantle forces me to get creative and shake things up a bit. These are just plain wood letters that I painted white and embellished with a bit of Gold Chevron and some dots.

I found this in the sidewalk on a walk. It is nice to know someone loves everyone who walked by!

As if I needed more reason to attempt to satiate my rabid craving for chocolate during every other moment of every day of every month, February brings with it a white flag and bids me surrender to what I call: CHOCOLATE EXPLORATION MONTH. What this means it that every time I go to the store, I swipe up various types, flavors, grades, and decorated types of chocolate, then I go home and either just eat them right out of the package or incorporate them into a dessert or meal. The only rule: only organic, fair trade, and appealing. Sometimes I stick with favorites, but I usually like to try new flavors like this one. As for my CHOCOLATE RATING (1 being good enough to eat once but not again, and 3 being so good I would happily subsist off it alone) I gave this one a 3.

This was also a 3. Yeah.

I made up some corny poems on the gold chalkboard paper and used a fine-tip chalk pen to write with. I used some pray painted branches I already had (yes, I keep branches -don't judge;-) Then, because I am sentimental, I save most Valentine cards from family and friends and reuse them as decor each year. This year I made them into Valentine 'trees'. Also, setting out a little Shakespeare sets the mood for my husband to recite romantic sonnets by candle light...or actually, just for me to read on my own and imagine such a thing taking place. ;-)

St.Valentine's Day is often not given the due reflection and respect that it is due. Being a history enthusiast, I have spent years doing research on and looking into the historical significance and origin of each holiday in hopes to better understand it and honor it. If you look into these matters, you will find that most holiday's we celebrate now are of Pagan origin and were masked over by Christianity which usually wanted to allow their converts to continue to celebrate the seasons but wanted it to be done in a Christian manner. Thus days like Samhain (Halloween) originally being a day where the otherworld was opened and spirits walked the earth turned into a  feast day (All Hallows Eve) honoring saints and Christians who had passed. Valentine's day is actually NOT one of these Christian masked holidays. Valentine's day was created by the Roman Catholic church to honor St.Valentine and his love-strewn deeds. However, the time of year in which we celebrate Valentine's day does coincide with a Pagan seasonal ritual. According to Wikipeida:

"Popular modern sources claim links to unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St. Valentine's Day, but prior to Chaucer in the 14th century, there were no links between the Saints named Valentinus and romantic love.^[25] Earlier links as described above were focused on sacrifice rather than romantic love. In the ancient Athenian calendar the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13–15, was an archaic rite connected to fertility. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier "or "the chaste Juno", was celebrated on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I (492–496) abolished Lupercalia."

Interesting stuff!!!

St. Valentine is a man certainly worth celebrating! He was a priest during the worst of the Christian persecutions in Rome. St.Valentine was a champion of the Christian lover -as he secretly performed marriages between Christian's which was outlawed at the time. He was also a bit of a romantic -sending the first 'Valentine' to his jailers daughter whom he was in love with. It was signed, "Your Valentine". If you want to do some research on the subject (as I always encourage like an overzealous school teacher), here are some good websites.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day#Legends

http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/history_of_valentine.htm

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this wonderful holiday and have decided to fill your month with love, celebrations, sweets, and reflection. Love to you all!