Pink Chinoiserie!

For Valentine's Day!

I had a scrap of birch plywood on the porch

 and I had not put anything on my front door since the Christmas decorations came down

So I cut out a big, fat heart.

I put a quick primer coat of white paint on it.

And then I grabbed some pink paint.

A little bit of quick sketching.

And then I just quickly painted some images
 from my favorite blue and white dishes that I have around the house.

 It was a lot of fun.
 You just need one color of paint and some white paint. 
That's it!
I used Sherwin Williams Eros (deep pink.) 

I wanted to freshen things up a bit. It's been so gray lately.

And Mollie has a friend coming to stay for the weekend. 

A group of them are going out to celebrate "Singles Awareness Day" this weekend. 

The name for February 14th if you are unattached :)

I had the perfect pink Greek Key ribbon!
A quick bow and on the front door it goes!

 There! 
Nothing says "hello" like a pink Chinoiserie heart
 and some sunshine!

This was a quick and easy project. 
And since I have wanted to make blue and white Chinoiserie Christmas ornaments for literally two years
 I'm feeling pretty accomplished to get this painted 
and show the front door some love!!

Feelin' the Love

Last Spring I had a long "blog silence" and indicated that I had been working on something that I couldn't talk about at the time.
No secrets that involved national security but I was designing the crafts for this VBS :)
The other day they sent me "the book" (it's really a booklet but, still) all finished and glossy color cover and so exciting!
I love VBS and it is an exciting part of my job. I made a job change in November but I still get to be hands-on with VBS. So it's a win!



I have also been painting some "heart art" but I can already confess to blogger fail. I forgot to take a picture of the finished projects :( 
Glitter was involved!
 

 

 They were a lot like these, which I have done a lot of variations on through the years. This time the 'O' was a glitter heart (so cute - wish I had taken a picture!!!). Here are some other projects, and decorations if you are still getting it together for Valentine's Day!
There is still time left to get crafty and feel the love!

It Had to Happen...

... there had to be "one of these" for Valentine's Day. After pumpkins, gingerbread men, flowers and snowmen, everyone expects to see something for every holiday or season outside my door :)  So, it had to happen.

It's just the same as the others -  a bucket ( this time galvanized) with Plaster of Paris or quick setting cement to hold the 1 x 2 in place. I found the heart platter at Target for $2.99. Last year the Dollar Tree had big red plastic heart plates, but not this year, so I had to go for the $2.99 plate. I added green and white polka dot ribbon down the whole "stem." I contemplated leaves made from some cool found object but the truth is that I threw this together in about 30 minutes and that was all the time I had. Maybe leaves will happen next year!! And it's still cute and cost just a few dollars to put together!!

Linking Up:

Big Puffy Hearts!!

You had to know they were coming... big, puffy burlap hearts!!

A swirly pink one if you're just not into red...

...and then, of course, there had to be polka dots and black and white, too.
<3

Linking Up:

It All Started at Wal Mart...

I found  adorable heart shaped paper plates at Wal Mart. In a package of 6 for 97 cents.
 Irresistible!!
Then, at Hobby Lobby I found a bottle of glitter named Bubble Gum. It was pink and crystal mixed together. No passing that up. It was $1.47. ( You could use what you have on hand and I'm actually going to do some with red glitter dots on the red. Just as cute!) I used a Spouncer ( remember those from a previous post??) dipped in Mod Podge to make my glittery polka dots.

 I painted the back of the plate red to make it look a little nicer.

Then I spray painted a General Foods International Coffee can with black chalkboard paint. I did give it a light coat of Kilz primer first because it was sitting on the table where I was painting. I don't think it's a necessity if you don't have any primer. This is one of the older metal cans. You could use a clay pot, a paper cup, a little bucket from Target's Dollar Spot,etc. Whatever you have.

Next I painted some paintsticks green.

 

Can't leave them plain- so stripes and dots are next. Just  get creative.

Then I used a little Plaster of Paris to "plant" my paintstick in the coffee can. I added some Easter grass to cover the P of P and tied on a scrap of polka dotted green ribbon. You could add leaves with fun foam or small wooden hearts painted green would be cute.

You can write a message or the name of the person who is going to receive this on the chalkboard painted can. I added some Hershey Kisses on top of the Easter grass.
 What's a Valentine with out chocolate??

And then, because we all know that once I get a theme I can't get stopped (remember Candy Corn and Candy Canes and then the Snowman overload???) I made a small version. I still have some of those little galvanized buckets left so I used that, a green jumbo craft stick, two of those ice cream spoon shaped wooden pieces and a red glitter fun foam heart cut out. I stuck some air dry clay in the bucket to hold it all together and added some Easter grass. So cute and it's just big enough to hold about 3 Hershey kisses. A cute little Valentine for someone or a great "place card" at a Valentine's meal.

A fun little valentine's day project for all ages. You don't even have to cut out a heart shape!! Start with the plates and a little Tacky Glue will hold it all together!