My Vintage Valentine's Mantel {and a Bunting Tutorial}

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Ever since I was a little girl I have loved lace and fluff and all things pink and girly.  I don't necessarily drape myself in lace and pearls, but I WOULD if it were socially acceptable.  

I have had this idea to decorate for Valentines Day using vintage cards and images for a few years now, in fact, ever since I ran across The Graphics Fairy.  Oh man, that is one fabulously handy blog.  I have never decorated for Valentine's Day (season) before on account of my slight distaste for the holiday, we barely celebrate it. I don't think we need to be told when to share our love, it should be shared everyday.  I do however adore love songs and books about love and romantic movies but for me Valentine's is really more about the pretty things that come with the holiday.......

ahhhhh pink, ahhhh pretty, ahhhh vintage (hold on I'm having a moment)................... 

Is it too girly?  The day I made and hung this banner my two year old son came upstairs wearing a pretty pink tutu.  Ooopsy.  He looked pretty stinken cute though!

Ok.  With that said (sorry to get so wordy on you all), this ridiculously simple project was one of those that I was worried wouldn't turn out like I wanted.  But instead turned out even more lovely than I had ever dreamed!  If you look closely at the pictures you could easily figure out how it was done on your own.  But here are some quick instructions anyway.

What you need:
A few yards of lace cut 1-3 inches in width
gluestick
creative edge cutting scissors (don't know the official name)
distressing ink
pretty scrapbook paper
a hole punch

I bought most of my cards from the dollar store (at 2 for $1) and printed a few from the Graphics Fairy blog.  There are 8 cards in my bunting.  I cut the cards down to suitable but still random sizes.  I then inked them, then glued them to some pretty scrapbook paper, then did my little creative cut around the edges and then inked that.  I then set them all out how I wanted them to look, hole punched the top two corners of each card and then laced the lace (or ribbon) through.  I had to cut and tie the lace a few times but I love how that adds to the look.

My opinion.  You didn't ask, but your getting it anyway ;)
This is my philosophy on decorating for different holidays while still matching your existing decor. My decor is already pretty eclectic and colorful so matching is not much of a problem for me although it IS well thought out.  For each holiday I use the colors that traditionally go along, but add a color from my existing decor that doesn't usually accompany that holiday.  In this case I incorporated blue. And used the same hues that were already existing in this room.  Make sense?  If I were to decorate for St. Patrick's Day, (which I'm not), I wouldn't use the dark bright green traditionally used, I would use an olive or yellowy green and maybe some silver and add a teeny weeny bit of blue.

I will be back soon with a fluffy lace heart tutorial and lots of other great Valentine's ideas!

Hero Hues Ribbon 3 yards: Lace

Valentine Postcards