Our Small-Town Idaho Life: VALENTINE HOME DECOR TOUR {2013}

Here's to posting my holiday ideas BEFORE the actual holiday! I'm so proud of me.

I have never been a fan of the tacky, commercial-looking Valentine decorations overpowered with kissy lips, naked angels, red foil, and pink, pink, pink! (Bah, humbug, right?) Well, I took an unconventional wintry woods approach instead. Most of the Valentine touches are subtle.

I reused the felt garland I made for Christmas (FYI: Easy as pie to make. I ordered the 2CM wool felt balls from an etsy shop and then strung them with needle and string. You can make your own felt balls by following tutorials like this one.)

Then I made a doily garland by sandwiching the two halves of a folded doily on either side of string. It is held together with a little white glue. This frilled things up enough to look Valentine-y without overdoing it.

Andrew helped me cut a dead Aspen tree into several skinny stumps while we were out chopping a Christmas tree. I knew I wanted to use them for some kind of display. I got the idea to make them work for February by adding the carved letters. Another subtle touch.

I kept the homemade wreath I used in December, because it continued the woodsy feel.

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I love this print. Not only is it pretty and matches my felt garland, but it sums up my feelings for Andrew. Sometimes I feel so boring and serious. Andrew is the funny, lighthearted, playful one...the source of the color in my life.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the entire page to fit in the frame I had on hand. So I folded the bottom line out...hoping it still made sense. Good enough.

Andrew thinks the shelves look like Easter...which works for me. That just means I can leave this up for several months...maybe with just a different framed print. Less work!

As for the mantel in the great room, I was never fully satisfied with how this turned out, but I wanted to show off my homemade garland.

The framed print can be snagged for free at sissyprint.blogspot.com. I made a tiny 8x10 look a little more imposing in a large framed mat.

I received this Hyacinth for Christmas from grandma. It bloomed just in time to decorate for love month. Doesn't it look unreal? Hopefully, it sticks around a little longer.

I made the bunting over a few evenings sitting in front of Netflix. My inspiration came from here. I cut pages out of a vintage, thrift store book with a razor blade--sinful, I know. Then I used a template printed from the Internet to cut out hearts from fabric scraps.

I tried double stick tape with no success. Glue left ugly splotches behind the fabric. So I sewed the things on with a needle and thread and handful of mismatched buttons.

They looked a bit plain...so I added a washi tape touch across the top.