Post in which I proclaim my love of Valentine's Day

First, I must apologize, because I've got about sixteen photos for this post.  I couldn't help it, I got a little snap-happy.  Today, the sun is shining, (finally) I'm picking up my man at the airport, and I'm coming down off the high of spending an entire day, sans children, with my sis-in-law, at Ikea.  My brother gets the amazing man award for not only watching my hoodlums so I could hang with his wife, but talking me down from my confusion and terror when I got completely lost in the dark and rain, alone with my kids last night.  I kid you not, I have never been more panicked.  He was so calm and reassuring, and got in the car to come find me, and then talked me back to the freeway over the phone.  Such a good guy. Anyway, I'm here to talk about love.

 I've been swathing my home in Valentine cheer.  My friend Betsy, made me these darling ornaments at Christmas, but I kept this one out when I boxed up all my decorations because I knew I would want to use it again at Valentine's day.  (I love it Betsy!)

I gathered a couple of my favorite romantic novels, collected in used bookstores over the past few years, and topped them with this sweet little espresso cup (Ikea) and roll of wish tickets. 

I used my stamps and card stock for a simple word print, but it needed a little something more, so I added a red heart, using a heart punch. 

I think I'm crushing on the colors blue and red right now.  Can you tell?

I put a little Valentine word art on my chalkboard... and I get asked about it a lot, so I'll tell you about this right now.  This chalkboard was my mother's day present last year.  Actually, the chalkboard wasn't, the frame was. I found this large frame, in black, attached to a broken mirror.  I got it for a steal, tossed the mirror, and took the inner measurements to Lowe's.  I located a piece of 1/4" thick wood, had them cut off the end, making it the correct size, then I came home and covered it in chalkboard spray paint.  I painted the frame and lightly distressed it.  (You knew that part was coming, didn't you?) And now it bears seasonal greetings, bible verses, quotes, and all manner of fun inspiration.  I think we spent about $10.00 total on this, which was the best present of all!

So while at Ikea, I hunted around for the perfect Euro pillow covers.  I found these two red and blue striped beauties, for $8.00 a piece, and thought they might work in my bedroom...but I wasn't sure.  (I'll be posting on my bedding update later this week.  I think.  If I get my act together.) I brought them home, and they really didn't look right.  I was sad for about half a minute, when I suddenly thought of throwing them on our couch.  It was like they were meant to be there!  Instant couch update!

And now for the fun stuff... do you see those frames I scored at Ikea, hanging over on my wall? 

Here's a better look.  I plan to display hoodlum artwork or random photos eventually, but for now, I created a little fun artwork, and framed two of my all-time favorite photos, that incidentally just so happen to be rather "love" themed.  Fortuitous. 

The darling heart artwork idea is not mine originally.  Sarah from Cozy.Cottage.Cute inspired me like crazy on this amazing post.  If you haven't checked out her blog, you are missing some serious eye candy, and inspiration.  You can just tell right off the bat that she is a total sweetie.  I promise she will inspire you for every season, and once you start paging back through her blog, you'll be hooked on her mad photography skills.  Tell  her I sent ya!  Sarah gives an amazing tutorial, but I thought I'd show you what I did.  You'll want to grab some cute papers, foam glue dots, (not pictured) a heart punch (got mine with a coupon at JoAnn Fabrics) and of course a frame.  You'll also want an old book with cute words in it.  Sarah used Charlotte's Web, but I chose an old favorite of mine, Little House on the Prairie.  Sarah recommended finding sweet words through out the book, and punching your hearts out of those.  I loved that, and completely copied it. 

I found this sweet red gingham paper.

Funny, the words you come across once you begin hunting. I found all kinds of cute ones.  I liked "hitched" and "his wife" here.

Sarah measured hers with a grid, but I'm lazy, so I just eyeballed it.

Attach your foam glue dot to the back of your hearts. Then just stick them down. 

I love how the foam dots give a fun bit of depth to this project!  I'll all kinds of inspired for my Spring Etsy collection...

And it looks so adorable, hanging here.  Now I'm going to get my man, and wear this tee shirt! 
(You can still pick yours up on my Etsy, and the fitted ones are in stock right now!)

 Apparently, he's traveling with co-workers and cautioned me to show some restraint.  (Which I laughed out loud about.) What's restraint?

Hmmm.. guess that means kissing him silly at the baggage claim might be out.  Darnit.