Now that the holidays are over, we are all gearing up for the next season. I was going to try to wait before decorating for Valentine's, at least a couple weeks, but I have been having so much fun refinishing and crafting and revamping as I've been writing this blog that I just want to keep doing more. When I was first married and had young children and began decorating my first home, it seemed I was more excited about crafting because I wanted to do things with my kids and not just have them vegging in front of the tv. And I also wanted my home to be beautiful, but couldn't afford to purchase a lot of items from the store as we had to watch our pennies! So crafting seemed to be a great fit for our family at that time. I was homeschooling the kids and it gave us creative outlets for learning as well as letting me decorate our home. In fact, I still use crafts in my home today that we made when the kids were little.
But life has a way of getting busy and sometimes not going how we hope and I found myself in a little bit of a slump. Things that once gave me such joy, I either didn't have the time or money or interest in doing anymore. And sometimes, it's not that we don't want to do those things, but we find other things that are more important. My kids got older and started having lives of their own with ballgames and practices to attend, school functions and social lives outside of the home. You know how it goes. Well, I'm happy to say that I have rediscovered the joy of crafting and cooking and homemaking at a whole new level now that most of the kids are out of the house, although I still have my beautiful Jess at home and don't want that time to go fast. It can crawl by for all I care. But it probably won't, so I'm going to enjoy the time I get with her.
I really like the trend of banners for decorating. Such a cute addition to fireplace mantles, windows, coffee bars, islands, tables, you name it! Just a little pop of holiday spirit or color in places that normally go untouched. I am here to say that I am jumping on that bandwagon. I had made a Halloween banner for the fireplace this past year using a premade banner I bought in the wedding section of Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off. At the same time, I also bought a package of premade hearts and flowers in burlap as well. I think there were 12 in the package, but it could have been more. Seems like I have lots left over. I used seven flags of the banner for the Halloween banner and have several still on the string, so I think it was quite a bang for the buck. I didn't know I was going to be blogging when I purchased the materials, so I just don't remember what I paid for any of it. I'll keep better track going forward because it is so exciting to me to be able to make beautiful things while still keeping it within a budget.
Here are the items I gathered together for my Valentine banner. I made the banner before I took the picture, so I forgot to include the burlap flowers. I only had two left over, but they were the perfect amount for the banner. I hot glued a heart on each of the flags of the banner. For the size of my mantle, I needed seven flags of the premade banner to fit across it. I added the flowers that I had on two of the flags which I really liked how that adds a little different interest to the piece, but doesn't overwhelm the banner with flowers as it is more for Valentine's Day. It was very simple, but really adds a lot to the whole scheme of the fireplace decorations.
Here it is on the mantle. Because I used seven flags, the breaking point to pull the banner up was off center which I really find interesting in the overall look of the mantle. I hope you enjoyed this simple, very basic craft project, but it is nice to know we can have beauty without a lot of work or hassle. Thanks for reading and let me know what your thoughts are. Do you like banners as much as I do? What have you used them for in your homes. Subscribe and let me know.
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