Happy Valentine's Day

to Me!

 Here as promised is my Valentine's Day Fireplace.

 As I said yesterday, It took seven hours to make all the tissue paper flowers needed for this.

The outer ruffle is made from coffee filters. 

I cut out a huge heart from foam core and then hot glued all the flowers to it.

Then added ribbon and some cardboard letters I bought at Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts.

I had the little sparkly hearts left over from last year.

I think I bought those at Dollar Tree.

 I plan on making something with that hot pink pom pom trim bought at Jo-Ann's also.

But for now...it was a nice accent to my vignette.

I decided I might as well dress up the chandelier too.

So a few Christmas bulbs came out mixed with heart shaped bulbs.

I should have removed my aqua beads but was too lazy...so they remained.

 

I love aqua and red together anyway.

 You know I've had that basket for over a year and didn't know quite what to do with it.

At Christmas, I decided to put some little trees in it and place by the fireplace.

Now I think it MUST contain some sort of arrangement for each season.

 See? It just adds a little something.

 I realized when I set this up that this is the first time I've displayed this little transferware teapot which 

was a gift from a friend a few years ago. 

 The same friend gave me the little saucer too.

I don't really collect transferware (hey there has to be a cut off some where of what I collect!)

But I do love these pieces because she gave them to me and now I think I need more!

Since I didn't have more transferware I used this piece of china instead.

I actually have a couple of blue pieces of transferware but of course they weren't right for this display.

Did I say I don't collect it? Well, I don't...I just happen to have a few pieces of red and a few pieces of blue. 

 I picked up those little valentine lady bugs last year on clearance at Pier 1.

We didn't have anything like that this year.

 A shot of all the baubles above.

This would have been prettier if I'd dug out more pink bulbs...but I didn't want to get more out.

I feel like I just got them put away.

To be honest, I did just get them put away.

 They are pretty added to the chandi. I'll keep them up for a little while.

Oh....I need to find shamrocks for St. Patty's!

Anyone seen little shamrocks like these heart bulbs?

 See the little photo bomber? 

Yep Harvey and Franklin busted down the baby gate and 

came in while I was taking photos.

Very distracting.

I said I wasn't using my time well, instead of spending nine plus hours on Valentine decor...

I should have been painting this piece of furniture. 

I'm planning on painting it very very shabby/chippie. I bought new knobs for it the other day.

I don't mind the ones it has but one is missing.

Yep....9 hours plus on Valentine's Decor...I could have painted this.

:UPDATE:

I had several people write me and ask for instructions on how to make the giant heart. 

You can find instructions on how to make the tissue paper flowers 

on this post.

http://modvintagelife.blogspot.com/2011/05/tissue-paper-flowers-tutorial.html

To make these flowers I cut my tissue into squares about 5 x 5.

some of the flowers I made solid

some of the flowers I alternated light pink and dark pink

I used 6 pieces of tissue for each flower and after accordion folding them...trimmed the ends to be 

rounded. 

You'll see that in my Tissue Paper Tutorial above.

I cut a large heart out of foam core but cardboard would work just as well. 

I used foam core because that is what I had on hand and it was white.

After I made about 40 flowers I took coffee filters and folded them twice and glued them around

the edge of the heart. This made a very nice ruffle. 

Then I filled in with the flowers starting at the outer edge and moving inward.

The ribbon was some old Christmas ribbon I had which turned out to look very Valentine like.

I purchased chip board letters at Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts for the words - Be Mine.

I added little glitter hearts here and there for added embellishment.

The other day I mentioned I'd share a special Valentine story.

How about two!

Story 1

I adore Valentine's Day!

I used to get down about it if I didn't have a boyfriend that day but I've decided it's a day

to celebrate everything romantic. Not just coupledom.

I make the day special for myself even if there is no one to make it special for me.

The funnest part of Valentine's Day is buying and doing for your beloved anyway.

So might as well do for yourself.

You love yourself, right?

You will never hear me say the words..."I hate Valentine's Day."

I love it. I love the concept. I've had great Valentine's Days and I've had crappy ones.

But I decided a few years ago that I'd make the most of Valentine's day, no matter what.

One Valentine's Day a several years ago I planned to celebrate that evening with girlfriends.

Four of us weren't dating anyone and we decided to meet for dinner and treat ourselves.

Now I know how crazy restaurants are on Valentine's Day because I've done that and 

I usually prefer to cook for my special person at home.

(that used to be the only day I  cooked at home....

which is likely a big factor in why I'm still single after all these years)

back to the story...

We wanted to go out and not be around couples so we chose a pizza place for dinner, 

knowing that it would not be a big date place.

Only problem was...at the time I was marketing director for a group of radio stations.

One of the sales people sold a remote broadcast last minute at a local bar.

There would be a Valentine party for anyone that didn't have a significant other on Valentine's Day.

A reason for women to come to the bar and the men that would already be there to meet them.

This party would include decorations and prizes.

I had to go to the bar and decorate the whole place up.

Because I was Marketing Director which meant I had to take care of the look of all promotions.

It involved buying all the decorations and organizing prizes and creating posters.

It took hours - just me hanging up streamers and blowing up balloons and sticking up valentine cut outs was a couple of hours.

The party started at 10pm.

I finished my decorating at 9:30 

missing the planned get together with friends.

That was a bummer.

That made me mad.

I'd spent my Valentine's Day setting up something nice for strangers who I was sure would NOT appreciate it. 

Sure I could have stayed and been at the party...

but I didn't want to be one of those losers without plans. 

I had plans! 

And I'd missed them!

Story 2

A couple years later I was dating a guy.

It wasn't super serious as in I had no plans of this being a long term thing.

I'd met him at the grocery store one afternoon when I went in running an errand for work.

As I left the store, he called to me from across the parking lot...

"Hey Lady!"

Who, me?

"Yeah, you....come over here."

He was selling newspaper subscriptions.

I don't know why I actually walked over there. 

I mean it was a guy in the parking lot for goodness sake!

He insisted I come over.

I told him I didn't need a newspaper.

I worked in media and got my news every day over the radio and tv's at work.

He asked didn't I like sports and want to know about that?

"Not especially", I said.

"Well", I admitted..."I like baseball."

He said, "What about baseball players?" and winked at me!

Really, I thought ...did he just wink at me?

Well, the paper was super cheap and before I knew it I'd signed up for 6 months at like $5 a month.

This guy would not take no for an answer.

I never read a single one of those papers and was irritated that I had to pick them up 

out of my yard every day for the next 6 months.

So I filled out the paper work which included address and phone.

As I walked away he thanked me and said he'd be calling me to see how my subscription was working out.

Huh? I thought.

That night...I'm out with friends and he calls!

I had no idea this was going that way!

I mean he was the guy selling newspapers in the parking lot of the grocery store!

My friends thought it was extremely funny and that I should give him a chance.

They had watched too many episodes of "Sex and the City" or maybe not enough.

We talked on the phone for the next two weeks.

We had nothing in common other than he used to be a baseball player and I liked baseball.

That was it...that is all we had in common. 

In my defense...he looked like a very young Nick Nolte.

Like remember Nick Nolte from Rich Man, Poor Man?

Yeah, like that and I was teenager when Rich Man, Poor Man was on.

formative years

The guy? He wasn't even alive when Rich Man, Poor Man was on.

Well, maybe he was....now that I think about it...but he was a child back then.

Yep, I was officially a cougar.

So I really had no intentions of seeing him...because our conversations were not riveting. 

They were basically me telling him what I'd done that day and he telling me what he'd done that day.

But two weeks later when out with friends celebrating my birthday and feeling sorry for myself... 

I called him and had him come meet me.

Oh...I'd been drinking that night too...which greatly influenced this decision.

That started our torrid romance that went on for about three years.

Not a straight three years.

We'd be together for months and then break up and then get back together.

He'd say things to me like

"You are really into me."

I'd say..."Not so much."

He'd say, "Yeah, you are."

"No," I'd say..."I'm really not."

He'd just smile. He was in his own reality.

If you think this sounds like I was being mean. I was not.

He was oblivious. 

He watched a lot of sports on tv which I don't have a problem with but it included hours and hours of 

professional wrestling. 

I once asked him if it bothered him that it was all so fake.

He looked at me with a painfully confused look and I dropped the subject.

Oh...and he loved to watch COPS.

Yep,

Nothing in common.

I remind you he looked like a young Nick Nolte.

Pathetic

for me

So anyway...we'd been dating about 8 months when Valentine's came around.

I think we'd already broken up maybe once.

He suggested we go out to eat for Valentine's Day.

I said that was fine and then warned him.

"Just to let you know....I only ask one thing of you for Valentine's Day"

"I want coral colored roses...pink if you cannot find coral. No red."

"You got that?"

"Do you know what color coral is?"

I questioned.

"Kinda orangie pink" he says

"Yeah, you got it!" I said shocked.

Then I tell him..."don't spend a lot of money...you can get them for $10 at Walmart and I'll be thrilled.

It will make my day".

So he shows up at my house on Valentine's evening...no roses.

A card in hand.

Ok, I think...a card....whatever...I don't care.

He said, "I know you said you wanted roses but I wanted to give you something that you could keep.

Something that wouldn't die."

"Ok", I said...that's a nice thought.

He hands me the card and opens his sweaty palm to place in my hand this....

 

Just about the ugliest necklace, ever.

Really, you must see it up close to fully appreciate it. 

Personally, I think he probably had this already.

I can't imagine anyone buying this.

I think he must have found it or bought it at the State Fair for himself.

He asked if I liked it. 

I said of course I did and that I would cherish it.

I planned on throwing it out.

But I've kept it.

I wore it that night and never again.

I don't know why I've kept it. I think I'm afraid one day I'll be making something and I'll think...

if only I had a pewter elephant holding a blue marble in it's trunk?

That would be the perfect accent.

We broke up very soon after that.

But we got back together.

After dinner...I called my sister and told her how bad the evening had been.

She and her husband came immediately to my house and brought me candy and flowers.

Isn't that sweet?

So, I said we broke up - while we were broke up...my subscription to the newspaper ran out.

I was very happy about that.

When we got back together...he signed me up again!

I couldn't say no to this guy! ...I got the reduced rate again...as he put me down as a new customer.

He also sold me a security system for my house.

I'd had one before and cancelled it.

I told him I didn't want it again but he said and this is how he got me.

"Your dogs are the most important thing to you, right?"

"If a fire breaks out while you aren't home...the system will contact the fire department".

Ok, sign me up.

I still never read the paper and when the subscription ran out...we were on another break up.

When we got back together after he said sweet things to me to get me to see him again....

I said, "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow night...but I am NOT signing up for the paper ever again!"

He laughed and agreed not to talk me into it again.

Did I mention he was the top salesman in the state?

I sometimes wondered if he just flirted with women to sell papers.

Oh...I'm sure he did.

Actually, every time we broke up I was pretty sure it was because he'd met a new subscriber.

Sometimes we broke up because I just was like, this is stupid.

To my own credit...I was the one that finally said...that's enough.

This could have gone on forever.

Ah...romance...don't you just love it?

Doesn't that sound like an episode of "Girls"?

I hope you have a wonderfully romantic Valentine's Day!

Me, I'm just going to love myself and remind myself how special I am.

Hope you spend your day with someone you love....even if it's only you.

Love Yourself!

Oh..I do have the weenies!

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