Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Decorating for Valentine's Day with Natural Materials

Each year, the girls look forward to decorating the home for Valentine's Day.  Last year, I made a variety of window stars that I put on the windows.  After the holiday, I packed them away to use again this year. 

It was so easy this year to decorate the main window in the dining room.  Here's what it looks like:


As the girls and I looked through the bin of Valentine's Day decor, we came across the paper cuttings I did last year for each of them.  One chose red paper as the backing and the other chose pink.  We hung the paper cuttings with a couple more window stars in the living room.


Since I just put out the winter nature table scene on the dresser in the dining room about a week ago, the girls and I decided to keep it up.  So this will stay up for a little while longer (perhaps right after Valentine's Day it will be changed to another scene).

Winter Nature Table

Since we decided to keep the winter nature table where it was, Olivia suggested putting a Valentine's scene on the bookshelf.  The table is more craft focused rather than nature focused since the winter nature table has the nature elements (e.g., rocks, sticks, pinecone, walnut shell beeswax candles). 

Valentine's Day Items

The display on the bookcase has hand-embroidered gnomes made from wool felt and sheep wool stuffing from sheep who use to live here.  The elf clogs are hand-embroidered and made from wool felt as well.  I made a pair for each of the girls using their favorite colors.  The wet-on-wet watercolor lanterns are made from watercolor paper, kite paper, and tissue paper.  The girls made them a few years ago.  The two cards are handmade featuring origami designs made from Japanese paper. 

The picture is of Casey who died 3 years ago on the day before Valentine's Day.  An artist painted the picture in exchange for some of my work.  It's been a treasured picture...and one that has been the focal point of several displays.

I like to make a few new things each year, so this is a new window star I made.  It follows a base pattern that I use for another star, but I changed things up a bit to create a new pattern.  Here it is:


I also made a couple of miniature bears from a wool sweater that I felted in the washer/dryer.  The bears are holding a paper bunting with Valentine's Day theme paper.  The bears are available in my shop, but I'm going to make another set so the girls have something else to decorate with in future years. 

Bears (made with a felted sweater) holding a bunting

The other item I just started making are bendy dolls with wire, beads, and wool felt.  I use a length of wire and two different size beads to create a miniature human form.  The clothes are hand-embroidered onto the wire frame.  The hat needed to be hot-glued onto the bead head in order to stay...otherwise it just slips right off.

I'm doing some for my shop as well as some for home.  The girls like them because they can bend and be posed in different ways.  Here is the trio of dolls that I made this weekend:


There are still a couple of weeks until February and some more things the girls and I want to do before then that relate to the holiday....more crafts, recipes to try, and activities to do.  Next week, I'll post some more Valentine's Day ideas.

Family room window with winter-white stars





19 comments:

Audrey said...

How do you find the time to make all these wonderful things?! The elf clogs, gnomes and bendy dolls are adorable..oh and the bears. Love the stars and the painting of Casey...who was the artist? Wonderful job!
I love getting a glimpse of snow on your blog...something we never see way down here in FL.

All the best,
Audrey aka AudreyGardenLady

Bella Linda Designs said...

This is such a beautiful post...I love your new dolls, remind me of something I had as a child...bendy dolls!

Unknown said...

Wow those window decorations are gorgeous, the ones with the squirrels especially are really intricate & delicate. They'd never make it a year in my house let alone last until the next one!

And my head is exploding from the cuteness of those bears :-) Love your decorative prettiness!

Natalie/Woolhalla said...

I love the festive little bears! The colour splash in thr window is so beautiful~ you make such gorgeous stars & other things :o)

Laura Jeanne said...

Oh my, so much loveliness! Those paper cuttings are especially exquisite.

Jessica@SewHomegrown said...

Thanks for adding your link to my party! you have a lovely site, and some really lovely things!

Dawn said...

Wonderful! I love the winter nature table.
Blessings,
Dawn

TwigandToadstool said...

Beautiful! You seem to be on fire with creative juice! love it.
Shanti

Kelly said...

Really lovely!

Kelly said...

I love your projects! Thanks for dropping by. : )

Kelly @ Creating a Family Home

Unknown said...

Sorry about the link! I linked it for you. It didn't open at the time I scheduled it. Thank for linking your wonderful ideas. I love all the window crafts.

phasejumper said...

Wow you are so crafty! Visiting from JDaniel4's Mom.

Unknown said...

Your stars look magical especially with the snow in the background - I keep mine up all the time, they are a little faded now so probably will make some more. Your nature table is so lovely embellished by all those wonderful handmade treasures.

Anonymous said...

I love the window decoration with shapes! It helps kids be creative if they want to join in without it looking like a kid even did it!

Ludicrous Mama said...

So pretty! I love the little people too!

Ami Allison said...

OH!! I love the stars and those hearts with the squirrels! SO SWEET!! I'm visiting from JDaniel's Mom :)

arkaya (jess) said...

you are a very creative person, I have really enjoyed looking through you work, so creative and fun!

*arkaya-swapbot*

Lyudmila said...

Your idea of the decorating with Natural Materials is a great.

Sara : Love in the Suburbs said...

Your window stars are superb! Love your shop, too. Such beautiful paper cuttings.