DIY: Valentine's Day Mantel

So, it is that time of 2013 when all the stores remove any last remnants of Christmas and New Year's items and start overloading on pink and red Valentine's Day jazz!  We are getting in the spirit to with this great mantel decoration idea from My Blessed Life.

We think that this would be easily adaptable to an office / cube space if you feel like making your work spot more interesting.

We hope that you find this as inspiring as we did and gets you into the mood for pink and red EVERYWHERE!

I love the layered simplicity of how the mantel turned out.  I kept the background {old window and vintage ceiling tile} that I used for my Christmas mantel and I switched out the printer’s drawer for another one that is a bit lighter. My hubs and I dug out the V-day decor out from last year and I had a blast making it work on the mantel!

I love my DIY “Be Mine” Topiary from last year.  I also used my Ruffled Satin Heart Wreaths and little balls.

Are you tired of seeing aqua insulators in just about every mantel I decorate? Ahem. I love ‘em, so they aren’t going away anytime soon. My Burlap Valentine’s Wreath from last year adds a fabulous texture to the mantel. The white vases with pink tulips make me smile because they are simple and calm.

An old cigar box and salvaged piece of trim {from Southern Accents} created a perfect stand for my little white vase.  The pink leather flower is part of a boutonniere from our wedding…almost six years ago. Wow.

This yellowing, falling apart framed “art” was a gift to my husband back long before he was my husband.  It is sentimental and I love seeing it every day.  Oh, if you haven’t read our story, it’s a good one!

So pretty!

DIY: Animal Bookends

We read all the time - we actually have so many books that it has gotten pretty ridiculous...so this book end tutorial is wonderful for us!  Perhaps we could find it in our hearts to get rid of two or three books to make space for these to sit on the shelf??

Thanks to Hi Sugarplum's blog we just might get motivated to donate a few books just to have these bad boys on display.

.....Plastic elephants from the dollar bin! I found these at the Target Danger Dollar Zone for $1 each, and the spray paint I already owned (duh). As for the rocks, you can find them in the garden department of the hardware store, on walks in park, or stone yards. I happen to have a stone yard nearby (kind of random, right?!), so I grabbed my 'Rattlesnake Rocks' (that's really what they're called) there. The poor guys were so confused by my request, they just let me wander around and take whatever scraps I wanted.

I originally planned to use stone tiles as the bases, but they were too small and not heavy enough to hold the weight of books.

I didn't love the tusks, so I trimmed them off with scissors, then gave each animal a few light coats of spray paint. I wanted the rocks to sit straight, so I filed the bottoms down using our concrete driveway. A dot of super glue to the bottom of each foot adheres the plastic to the stone.

Here are the mighty elephants now!