February Door Wreath

I love having something seasonal on my front door.  For a long time I bought door signs (the cute ones you see at all the craft stores,) then last year I bought a wreath for March (St. Patrick's Day) and then another one for April (Easter.)  That's when I decided I like wreaths better than signs.  I didn't have a February/Valentine wreath and so I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  I hadn't seen any that I loved in the stores.  I had looked at a few tutorials but most of the ones I liked used a heart shaped Styrofoam wreath which I could not find locally.  Then I found the one!  A tutorial for an adorable Valentine wreath that used rosettes made out of felt!  The Valentine Rosette Wreath by Sara at Our Best Bites.  I went to work!

Isn't it beautiful!  Never mind that I spent a lot of time making a ton of felt rosettes.  Never mind the 3 glue gun burns I acquired while gluing all those rosettes on.  It was totally worth it!!  This truly is one of my most favorite projects I've ever done.  I'm completely in love with it!!

Cupid Embroidery

The other project I did for my Valentine decor was this cupid embroidery.

I found a vintage cupid embroidery pattern on Flickr.  I embroidered it on all white on red cotton.  Then I stretched it around a piece of cardboard and put it in a frame I already had, that I had spray painted hot pink.  I added a little Valentine ribbon to hang it.  I had a little difficulty embroidering this because I didn't really have the proper tools to transfer the design.  I managed to transfer it by tracing it on with a white colored pencil.  Even then it was pretty hard to see and the lines weren't as crisp as I would have liked so I had to reference the image a lot.  In fact, most the hair was me winging it.  I wish I would have had a better transfer to follow and I'm sure it would have turned out a lot better.  That being said, I really like it!  I happy with the all white stitching on the red and I'm happy with the overall effect.  I will have to try idea again for other holidays!

February Runner

I don't even have my January runner done yet but since I already have my February decor done that means my February runner is done!

The middle is 2 inch strips of the Moda Sent with Love prints I bought earlier this month.  The border is just a solid pink cotton.  I had a grand plan to applique and embroider a cute design around the border of the runner but it just wasn't working out.  I also had plans to pad it with fusible fleece and then put a backing fabric and bind it.  Then I decided that I didn't really want to do that either.  I ended up just hemming the edges.  I may go back later and add the applique and embroidery on the border.  I don't know.  I know it's not what I would like it to be on it's own but I like it just fine when it's put out with my other decor.

Valentine Decor

This weekend I took down my attempt to start at January/Winter decor and put up my Valentine decor.  I don't have a mantel so I use the top of my entertainment center for my seasonal decor.

Most of this is things I already had or bought last year.  Most of the new stuff is little things I picked up here and there.  The glitter hearts that I put in the empty frames on the wall I found at JoAnn.  The red heart gems around the pink candle, I found at a home decor store called Tai Pan Trading.  The M&Ms in the apothecary jar are new but don't let it fool you, there's a Pringles Chip can in the middle.  You can can actually tell because the ones on top of the can sit differently in the jar but I don't know if it's a big enough problem to change.  The two big things that I made are the runner and the cupid embroidery.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm so happy to have my entertainment center decorated again!  It really brings a lot of seasonal charm into my house!

Linking up to The Valentine's Mantel Linky Party at The Stories of A to Z

Birdie Stitches Block 1

I found this adorable new block of the month called Birdie Stitches by Little Miss Shabby.

I love birds and this pattern was just so adorable I couldn't not stitch it.

 

Once I had finished stitching it, I used it to make a pillow cover for a throw pillow for my couch.

I really love the colors I choose, especially the little red bird.  I'm excited to see next month's design!

January Wreath

I love to do seasonal/holiday decor around my house but I always have the hardest time with January.  There isn't a holiday in January or any clear cut theme.  I've decided to sort of go with a winter theme since the winter season sort of gets passed over in December because of Christmas.  Also my sister gave me a snow globe with a winter cardinal in the snow that I love. So to recap January = blue, gray, white and cardinals/red birds (because I have to throw a little of the color red into as much as I can!)  I found a beautiful yarn wreath on Etsy and thought I can make that!  So I picked up some supplies.

 

Then I spent the next two hours wrapping yarn around a Styrofoam wreath.  That was the time consuming part after that a little hot glue to attach the bird, branches and a ribbon to hang it with and I have a wreath for January!