Valentine Shadow Box Ornaments

I bought a Christmas ornament this year that was made from a vintage postcard. So I have been working on some ornaments for my Valentine tree with the same idea. After a few mistreatments I came up with this!I started out making it post card size but it was too big for my little tree so I shrunk things up to fit a small jewelry box.



Start out by gathering your supplies:
I printed off some vintage Valentines to fit the little boxes. I found the Valentines here and here. The flocked scrapbook paper came from Hobby Lobby on the clearance aisle ($.71)!! Little boxes are from Dollar Tree. Lace, ribbon, glitter, buttons, flowers and craft glue were from my stash!

Spread glue on the box with an old paintbrush.

Wrap the box and use some clothespins to hold it to dry.

Glue Valentine inside the box. Use paintbrush to paint glue on highlights of the Valentine and sprinkle with glitter. I painted the little hearts on this one.

I used a glue gun to attach the ribbon for hanging and the flowers around it.

I probably have $.50 invested in each one and I have supplies to make more. I just ran out of boxes!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good - The first dining room cabinet is coming along! I can't wait to paint it and put my dishes away! The hinges are back ordered so DH will start working on #2!

The Bad - Just look at that floor... and it is not contained to the dining room! There is dust all over my house......
The Ugly- I made this nativity scene for my babies almost 30 years ago. They played with it every Christmas. It survived 5 children, cats, dogs....but it did not survive the attic. It was in a plastic tub full of decorations. Nothing else was disturbed!!! They "had" beans in them to weigh them down so they didn't tip over. They no longer have beans in them! Some creature has chewed through each one and eaten the 30 year old beans! Also missing are the camel ears, Baby Jesus' face and one of Mary"s hands. I think I still have the pattern....I will remake them when/if I have a Grandchild to play with them.... I was so sad to throw them away!

Times Flies...

so quickly when you are having fun!!!!! Where has January gone? The newlyweds have their 1 month anniversary today!In honor of that I decided it was time to get rid of the last of the beautiful wedding flowers! I kept pulling out the drooping blooms and they lasted a whole month!
The dining room is coming along. The final piece of tile came in the mail. I ordered them in the fall but, counted wrong and had to order just one more. These are some of the accent tiles we are using to tie the future wall color with the original tile that was in the fireplace. I keep moving the tiles around and trying different patterns. Decisions!

The first corner cabinet now has a drawer. The lights and plugs are in place. The bead board in the back and the shelf trim are going up.

And I've been looking around for some Valentine craftiness. I found these shoes in some of the old Christmas decor. They came from the Dollar Tree years ago. About the same time a catalog from Victorian Papers came. In it there were shoes covered in sheet music and decorated for Valentine's Day!

So out came the Mod Podge and an old hymnal....

Then some ribbon scraps and some millinery flowers.....

I'm also trying some shadow boxes with vintage Valentines and Dollar Tree jewelry boxes. An artist friend made some at Christmas that were really cute....mine...so far.....not so much...just need time to play with them a little more!

Back to the Dining Room

We have postponed the dining room project for a looooong time! We just had too much on our plates to get enough time to work! But, it is a new year and we are committed to get back to work! The Hubby is working on his masterpiece X 2. The vision I have had since we moved in includes 2 matching built in corner cabinets to store my china. I wanted a drawer, shelves with a glass front door and bottom shelves with solid doors. He has planned and measured twice, started buying wood, run the electricity, and framed one. What have I done? I have done consulting, helped move wood and gone on most of the supply runs with him......mostly nothing! We work better this way! My time will come later and he knows if he needs manual labor I am just a yell away....still trying to organize the attic!

Brrrrrrrr! It's Cold Here!

I got some paper mache snowmen out today in anticipation of snow! We have a 70% chance of snow tonight! It has been really cold for Alabama this week, but the skies have been blue. Today the clouds moved in!

My house looked so empty after I took down the Christmas decorations. After reading how Kristie left out her "Snowy" decorations up, I decided to pack my snowmen in a different box so I could use them in January.

I didn't even have these guys out this Christmas- so I enjoyed seeing their silly faces! I made them several years ago. I made the heads from styrofoam balls and paper mache. The hats are made from silver mesh fabric dipped in wallpaper glue and draped over plastic lids (from spray paint). Then I added more silver ribbon to stiffen them up. They have collars made of white fringe and I collected thrift store silver candle sticks to perch them on.

More thrift store balls are in the cloche. This will cheer me up until I can put out some Valentine goodies!

Meanwhile upstairs I have a big mess...

I took all the Christmas decorations into the guest room to sort and organize. I'm bringing all of the stuff I didn't use out of the attic and downsizing. My goal is to get rid of cardboard boxes and label all of the plastic bins.

I took some pictures of my neighbor's fountain. It has looked like this all week! Very pretty!!!

Thrifty Thursday

Happy New Year! The last month of 2009 was not very "thrifty" for me!! I was just too busy to spend the time to watch for sales and use coupons! So, in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, I am determined to get my coupons organized and return to my frugal ways. I made a good start this week with a sale at Winn-Dixie! I needed dishwasher soap, my stockpile was gone. I try not to get this low on staples because then you have to pay the price! So buy 5 P&G items get $5 off came in handy! Normal price for 2 large Cascade = $11 with the sales and some good coupons.....I got all of these P&G items for $11!!! A savings of about $18!

My shopping trip ended up being $28 but I saved $52!!!

We still have a lot of food in the pantry and freezer that I need to use up so I am going to try to plan meals with what we have on hand as much as possible for the month of January! If I can save money at the grocery store then I have more to play with at the thrift stores!

Don't forget to go by Leigh's place to see other 2010 Thrifty Goodness!