PALLET VALENTINE FOLK ART

You know, mostly, I consider myself to be a craft blogger.  But, I realize that it's been a long time since I actually posted a craft on here.  Two months to be exact.  Not that I haven't tried.  Oh yes, I tried.  I had a major lamp makeover craft fail and I promise to share that with you...as soon as I make it right!  Then, we bought a new house requiring major renovations, which means that when I am on the computer, I'm cruising Pinterest and Houzz for ideas instead of posting craft projects.  Then, my well froze and I was stuck in the house with no water.  This kind of forced me to take a good hard look at my surroundings.  Since I couldn't be bothered to decorate for Christmas,  my house has been  seriously lacking decor since last fall.  I thought maybe I should put up some Valentines stuff and make my house look a little cheerier, which I did.  In my box of Valentine decor, I found a small scrap of pallet wood.  Inspiration struck and I decided to make something. 

It looks a little "folk-artsy" to me, so I'm calling it folk art.  It went together pretty quickly.  In fact, it took me longer to get a good picture of it than it did to make it.  Figures.
I took some craft paper and made a template of my hand which I then traced on to some sheet music.  (I know, I could have just traced my hand directly on to the music, but I didn't.)

My hand is not that fat and funky looking, I'm sure of it.  I gave it a makeover with some scissors.  After deciding it was too white for my old pallet scrap, I gave it, and some words I tore out from the title, a quick coat of antique gel.

Also, in my box of Valentine stuff, I found a set of 3 wooden plant stakes all cute and painted (by someone else in a land far, far away).

I didn't really like the middle one with the hearts on it so I broke the stake off and flipped it over and used the plain red side.  I decided it was too plain and used a piece of fabric and a little charm key that I spray painted black, in the center of it.  I put it all together with a glue stick (for the hand,fabric and words) and a glue gun (for the heart and key).  I added some tiny eye screws and a chord to hang it with and called it good.  

 Getting a good picture of it was a different story.  First, it was evening and I lost my good light.  Second, I couldn't find a good background that made it look all cute and folk-artsy.  I finally decided to take it outside where I have all kinds of rusty, crusty farm stuff that makes for great backdrops.  I know my friend Donna at Distressed Donna Down home will appreciate the rustiness of the old blue pick-up bed and the tin from the old shed that I settled on for my finished pictures.  Me?  I'm just happy to have started and finished a craft.  (It's been way too long and I was jonesin a little! LOL!)

Bye-bye for now!

 
 

PALLET BOARD CANDLESCAPE FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

I am just about done with Valentines....really, I am.  But I wanted something for the center of my table, so I made this little candlescape project  in no time flat.

 You may recognize that candle.  I did it last year.  I love changing the beads out every season.

The beads really sparkle in the candle light and I love the little pearls in the bottom of the glass!
The pallet board was left over from a previous project and I used it after Christmas in this Winter Candle Scape...

I gave it a little makeover by adding a few scatter stones in heart-shapes and I'm enjoying it again for Valentines Day.......

 What's in the center of your table right now?  

BURLAP AND GINGHAM HEART

Although I live on a farm, country is not necessarily my style, but every now and then a little bit of it sneaks into my decor.  Just a little.  Like this.....

I didn't really start out to make a country-style heart, it just kind of ended up that way.
I picked up these wooden hearts last year at a thrift store.  A whole string of them.  They had some kind of saying on them, I forget what, and had some flowers painted on them.  Really, they were hideous.

I thought about painting over them, but it was faster and easier to cover them with some burlap, which I cut out and just glued on, because I'm lazy and have no patience for drying paint.

Using my number stamps, I put a 14 on the center...almost.  I'm not the best at lining this stuff up obviously.

The edges were still pink, which I didn't like.  I covered them with some kind of lace trim that I found in my box of ribbons.

I also added some eye hooks....one on the top for hanging and one on the bottom because in my infinite wisdom I thought that it needed something dangling down from it.  I used an old wooden thread spool, wrapped some gingham fabric around it and strung a few beads on each end.

Here is where I always run into trouble with that whole "less is more" thing.  I messed with those beads forever trying to figure out what looked best.  Then I felt like the burlap heart was way too plain.  I asked my highly valued, totally underpaid decorating consultant (aka my husband Sam) for his opinion.  He said, "needs something around the heart".  I asked him if he could expound on that professionally technical opinion and he said it needed just a border outline around it. I cut a heart out of the same fabric I used on the thread and glued it on.

  He's a genius!

 If you would like to use my husband's consulting services, just send me an email.  I think he'll work for food.....something he doesn't have to cook himself while I'm busy crafting....although I will say he's become a very good cook over the last year!!

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Valentine Mini Shadow Box

When my good friend Judy came to visit last fall, she brought me the cutest little shadow box and I do mean little!  It measures a mere 2 1/2" X 2 1/2".  Although I looked at it many times during Christmas, I never quite figured out what to display in it.  But I knew just what to do with it last week!

 Isn't it the cutest little shadow box?  All it took to inspire me was a 30% off sale and a gift card to Hobby Lobby where I found the sweetest little heart shaped buttons.

 I opened the shadow box and put the buttons in...........

Nice, but needs a little something to set it off a little don't ya think?

I trimmed down some washi tape to fit and stuck it right on the frame.

Now you know my favorite thing about this project is that after Valentine's Day is over, the tape peels right off, the buttons come out and it's ready for a new makeover.   For now though, I'm enjoying it just the way it is!

 Thank you Judy.....I love this little shadow box!

 

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VALENTINE CONE

Cones are certainly popular for decorating this year and I wanted to give one a try.  

 Although you can make your own cone shape, it's tricky.  I just picked up a styrofoam one from Hobby Lobby.  Much easier!  Here are the supplies I used to make this Valentine Cone.

 A styrofoam cone, some cute ribbon from the Dollar Store, some beads, scissors, straight pens, pink tissue paper and a pencil.

 I wanted to cover the cone with tissue paper to hide the white.  This was almost too easy.  I simply traced the cone shape on to the tissue paper by rolling the cone over the paper and tracing with a pencil.

 Cut out the shape and you end up with something that looks like this.......

 Then fasten it to the cone with straight pins.   (I also cut out a little circle to cover the top piece.)

 I found this cute ribbon at the Dollar Store and fastened it from the top of the cone to the bottom (underneath) of the cone with straight pins.

I covered the top with a button and a few beads all fastened in with straight pins.  So easy!

Not a very good picture...but you get the idea.  I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that my little cone fit right into the base of a silver heart pillar candle holder that I had.  Perfect! 

(See those two heart-shaped cookie cutters there?  I'll be using those later in the week to make a yummy dessert.)  
My favorite thing about this project is what I like about most of the projects I make.....it can be taken apart and everything used again later for another project.  Yep, because I used straight pins on everything attached to this cone, it's all going to be recycled after Valentine's Day.  My good friend Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home, totally freaks out about this.  Almost every time I make something, she sends me an email telling me "Please, do not take this apart!"  She's so funny!  (She fretted so much about THIS particular project that I relented and had to box it up and send it to her in the mail so I wouldn't dismantle it!)

I had fun making this cone and it's a colorful addition to my Valentine's Day Decor here at Silo Hill Farm........  

.........even if I can't decide which is the best way to display it!  Did you notice that all three finished pictures in this post were accessorized differently?  Which do you like best?  I'm leaning towards this last one, although the cookie cutters are kind of fun next to it too.  Or maybe the first one with those icy looking hearts.

I dunno. 

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