“A man is not where he lives, but where he loves.” Latin Proverb
February is a big month in our household with Valentine’s Day, our wedding anniversary and my birthday. With winter setting in, I like to brighten the entrance for the month of February with a Valentines theme. This year I recycled my holiday decor and transformed it with a few simple tweaks to celebrate the month of love.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” David Bowie
I find a lot of the ready-made Valentines Day decorations are too corny or overdone so I like to create my own. The holiday urns had been done up in silver, flocked and red twig branches with red winter berry wreaths. I left these in place, removed the silver Christmas balls in the arrangment(you can see the original urns here) and hung heart shaped ornaments throughout the branches. Simple, restrained yet not too frilly. I live in a household of all men, including the cat! I really like the subtle sparkle from the glitter branches in the winter light. Don’t have red twig dogwood? Simply paint any branches with red paint as I did here.
For the wreath, I repurposed a red frame from this year’s Christmas planter(here) to create a wreath-within-a-wreath. This was an old frame without glass I had painted red with acrylic paint. Using hot glue, I decorated the edge of the frame with felted wool red hearts with rhinestone detailing and small heart-shaped “gems”. These were recycled from a garland(JoAnn’s) I took apart(to see how I used the garland last year, click here). You could use old jewelery or cut hearts from felt to achieve a similar look. I hung a larger glittery red heart separated from an old store bought wreath(JoAnn’s) and hot glued its edges to the wood frame. The frame is securely hung on a door hook. I used a jaunty red and white polka-dotted grosgrain ribbon to make it look as if the wreath is hung by the ribbon. It is simply for show as the frame would move too much if hung this way when the door opens and closes. I made a bow of the same ribbon and attached it to the center heart with wire. Voilà! My Valentine’s Day welcome!
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” Zora Neale Huston
Very festive and welcoming. And you just reminded me to ask Sue to remove the Christmas wreath from my front door. I did forget one year and returned in April to see a very dead wreath.
Sent from my iPad
>
Thank you Dona! Good my post reminded you! I will have this all down before you return in April I hope!🌷
Sent from my iPhone
>
It is gorgeous!
Thank you Linda! I like the way it turned out and it’s not too frou frou for a houseful of guys! Glad you like it.
Sent from my iPhone
>
Johanne this is just a “lovely love” post. The decorations are just the bomb! Happy Anniversary to you and your husband. Valentines is such fun and could not come at a better time…the dark days of February when we all need a bit of relief from the cold. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Teresa! I have always loved celebrating Valentines’ Day especially when I lived in loooong winters in Canada. 💕❤️💕
Johanne Lamarche
>
It’s beautiful! And I love the David Bowie quote 🙂
Thank you Elaine. I love that quote too. Such a sad week for the world, but especially The UK losing Bowie and Rickman. To the very end, Bowie was creating. Amazing!
Johanne Lamarche
>
So very sad 😦 and both such a shock x
allo Johanne … très beau décor, j’aime la urne,belle idée!xo
Sent from my iPad
>
Merci Nicole! Ça fait du bien de racourcir l’hiver avec le décor chaleureux de la St Valentin. Tu auras plusieurs Valentins pour aimer et gâter cette année, petits et grand! Xo💕❤️💕
Johanne Lamarche
>
So much for you to celebrate in February. You’ve certainly livened and sparked up the front entrance, just beautiful! Love the David Bowie quote too. Happy V-Day, B-Day and Anniversary!
Thank you Loretta! That Bowie quote resonated with me also. Remarkable at how he continued creating his art even from his death bed. Have you watched the video of Lazarus one of his new release songs? Almost too hard to watch but so Bowie! Have a good week! Thought of you as we drove home on route 52 yesterday from DC.🌺
Johanne Lamarche
>
Oh my yes Johanne, I did watch the video of Lazarus, it was quite disturbing! I had not really followed his life in the past few years and had no idea he lived in NYC. I think after he re-married his life changed for the better. It has been quite a Bowie week in the music world no matter where we were last week, all very sad. Ahh you drove home on Rte 52 from DC? You should have stopped in :). We live just off Rte 52, that’s the route I usually take when I go to Longwood before I hit Route 1 (15 mins from here), but I didn’t realize you could drive back from DC that way?
We got on route 52 from 95 at Wilmington and took 52 to route 1 to get home from there. Much prettier drive with less traffic than if we took 95 to 202. I had a hard time watching Lazarus. Disturbing indeed yet courageous. Those zoom in shots of the veined transparent skin. Ugh!
Johanne Lamarche
>
What a clever idea!
Thank you so much! I am glad you liked it!
Johanne Lamarche
>
Your wreath is adorable, but I really like your Valentine arrangement in the urn! What a great and festive touch to your entry Johanne!
Jenna
I love those urns too Jenna and they took all of 5 minutes to convert from Christmas. They look nice with the wreath between them but I just couldn’t get a good photo. 💕
Johanne Lamarche
>
What?! Valentine’s Day already?! LOL. Beautiful, as always, Johanne. You should be a designer!
Thanks Angie! Hope you are staying warm and safe in the storm!
Johanne Lamarche
>
I love anything that symbolizes love. This looks amazing, Johanne. 🙂 Happy FF103! x
The love is coming right back at you Jhuls!
Johanne Lamarche
>
You do enjoy decorating Johanne – this should be your second career 🙂
I do love it Judi! Always have. Digging out from under 26″ of snow here😱❄️😱
Johanne Lamarche
>
Thanks for sharing this DIY Valentine crafts with FF 103! These are beautiful 🙂
Glad you liked them! I like to get us out of the kitchen sometimes!:-)
We all need “no kitchen” time sometimes 🙂
The urn really resonated for me – probably because I think I have the same ones, or very close! I want to make it NOW! The wreath is really cute, too! And thanks for sharing this to Throwback Thursday! 🙂 🙂
In a perfect world Mollie and Johanne are neighbors. Johanne decorates Mollie’s urns and Mollie makes her the raspberry white chocolate bread pudding!😍
Johanne Lamarche
>
LOL!! I agree wholeheartedly!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love all the quotes and your pretty crafting! Best wishes and have an awesome day! Koko:)
Quotes always inspire me Koko and I especially loved the Bowie one. Enjoy your weekend!
That ones my favorite too!