Red and White and Love Week

 Just thought I would share my Valentines this past week.

My hubby and husbands of friends we trip with, all got together and surprised us with an attendance at our local movie theater's, 'Evening of Love' event.

We had a lovely prime rib dinner, games, chocolate, roses and a movie with the necessary accoutrements.

Such adorable men.

 Then ...

... on Sunday we served a Valentines dinner to our family .... sans sick and traveling kids and grands. With just nine at table, it meant I got to use my beloved pearl handled silverware, so I guess every cloud has a silver(ware) lining, right?

The menu was pink and red foods: pinkish creamed corn, roasted red potatoes, pink rolls, Grandma Connie's famous pink cloud with fruit salad and a lovely' falling apart' pot roast ... and my son Davin, the funniest of my children, said the meal was perfect, as he just happened to be on a special diet, eating only foods in shades of pink ...

It was a lovely meal, despite the lack of grandchildren there. And ....

...handling and washing my collection of pearl handles is nothing short of a delight, I saved it until the rest of the dishes were washed so I could savor ... OK, I have been told I was a weirdo before, so this proves it!

 This is my Instagram Valentines greeting (join me, I'm Pollyareinvents on there too! Please mention in a comment that you are a blog follower and I will follow you back!)

And last of all, I am embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until this past week that I put away my beloved Christmas Angel collection that had been inhabiting the kitchen window shelf and made it valentinesy ...

Love showing off my heart shaped cookie cutter collection by hot gluing them onto the mullioned window I keep on the shelf ... now to think of other good things to display that way.

Thanks for coming along for the red and white tour, I hope your Valentines was lovely as well!!

Steampunk Valentines Wreath!

 In the Facebook group I belong to, Reclaimologists and Other Craft Chics, we received a request to make a Steampunk ValentinesWreath ... I have always thought that the wire wreath frames looked sort of steampunkie when naked, so I set off to make one.

Of course I dived into my piles of cool metal stuff, and came up with a 'love plaque' that I quite liked.  Then I found some loose elements and wanted a bit of a charm bracelet look, and made up the top embellishment.

This is the result, though I must admit I thought it looked a little bare.  The customer thought so too, and asked that I fill it in with deco mesh ...  I had seen the stuff, but didn't know the name of it.

Shannon, our prime Reclaimologist,  told me where to buy it, and I checked out a couple of tutorials on line, and voila!  

It has since been tucked into a specially made box and is on its way to New Mexico ... Enjoy!

Antique Valentines and Paper Weights

How fun it is to look through a stack of vintage Valentines, and wonder about the original givers and receivers.  I always think of the decorated shoe boxes we made to receive our stashes of valentines from school friends.  The Valentines made in the 30's are always my favorites, I think they are so cheerful ... and they are often heart shaped which makes them perfect for placing in heart shaped glass paper weights.  Though since I have no desire to  cut up Valentines from my collection, I have found that its easy to find the type of old Valentines that I like on Graphics Fairy, which also makes it easy to print them off in the sizes I need.

Above are three paper weights with reprints of vintage Valentines.  I just use clear Tacky Glue, as glue goes on the face of each valentine to adhere it to the glass paper weights.

 

 The honey comb Valentines are earlier, dating to the turn of the last century... 

 

... and all this vintage Valentine goodness tucked away in a corner of my parlor just makes me smile!! Happy Valentines friends!

Loving Memory Portraits

As Valentines approaches I am inclined to think of favorite love stories ... and of course my very favorite love story is that of my parents ... they met at a dance when she was 16 and he was 24, in the middle of the depression.  He had just decorated the hall for the dance, when she and a school mate snuck away from a night of studying to check out the local dance hall.  When my Dad and his friend saw the girls, my dad said "I'll want the one with the skinny ankles."  The rest of course, is history, family history, that is.

 

They didn't marry for another 3 years.  With money being tight they spent their first married years living with his parents, whom he supported...   Anyway, I thought it would be lovely to capture their love story in an unusual way ... these are the elements of the finiahed portraits shown above.  The larger frames have photo copies of a page each from a letter written from one to the other during WWII when they were separated for most of four years.  The pictures were of them as youth, both taken before they actually met.  The bracelet  was sent from my Dad to my Mom from Hawaii while he was stationed there.

 I made the name plaques using this graphic from Graphics Fairy.  I erased the interior (in paint) and saved it, then took it to word where I stretched it to the shape I wanted, before taking it back to Paint, where I added their names, as shown below.

 I wanted to use the charm bracelet, partly because I love charm bracelets, and partly because it makes me think of my Dad, lonely and missing his little family wandering around shops looking for something my Mom, a young pregnant mother with a two year old, would enjoy.

 

To assemble them, I glued the small frames,  with their pictures, to the glass of the large frames with E6000, then I set the small name plaques on tiny blocks to make them stand out and give them added dimension. I hammered tiny nails into the corners of the small frames before gluing them to the larger frames to hold the bracelet.

 

 I love how they turned out ... so fun to see their handwriting with their photos, and phases like "dear one",  and "my loved one"  and from my mother's letter, "I said, 'Do you love Daddy?' (to my 2 year old brother) He put his face down on the paper, so lovingly as if to say, 'I do love Daddy."  and even the mention by my mother of her "two lovely blisters" makes me smile.

Thanks for coming along and sharing my parents love story during this season of love ... 

Trash to Treasure - Valentines Door Hanger

Now that we have fun Valentines touches in the house to prepare us all for the season of love, I thought it was time for a sweet heart door decoration.  I found this red glittered and reticulated metal cone at a second hand store for a dollar.  The glittered hearts are picks from the dollar store.  The fairy and pink bird are unlikely clearanced Christmas ornaments, the ribbon is from stock on hand ... that left me to accordion fold old book pages to tuck into the 'nest' ...

 

... and a couple of great graphics  including the bird in a nest with an envelope from Graphics Fairy to fiddle with a bit in paint ... and voila - our love nest door decor is complete.  Now my guests will get to share a bit of whimsical Valentine sweetness before they even step inside!!  Hope you are feeling loved and that you are having fun with your Valentine additions as well!

Happy Valentines to one and all!!