Valentines Decor... on the cheap

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to decorate for holidays. It drives Brian crazy, but I have a house flag for just about every holiday and occasion including birthdays, football games, baseball games and New Years. So, my festive decorating could get a little out of control if I let it. Fortunately, I have a tight budget to stick to, which helps keep things under control. But it also allows me to get a lot more creative with my decor.

So, in case you are feeling festive this Valentine's Day, I thought I'd give you a few simple ideas that add a bit of fun to the house for the upcoming Day of Love!

My first idea is filling a candle holder with conversation hearts and placing a pink or red candle in the middle. This particular hurricane candle holder is a bit large, so it could have cost around $10 to fill it up with candy. My trick is to go to the Dollar Store and buy the candy there. Yes, it may be from last year, but who cares... you're not eating it, you're just using it for decoration! So, since I already had the candle and the holder, this only cost $3.00.

The adorable frame with the photo of me with one of my special Valentines, was handmade for me last year by Payton. Pretty cute, eh? Here's a close-up photo of the candle:

The next idea came from all of the adorable Valentine's banners that I saw on Etsy this year. They range in price from $12-$30, but once you add in shipping, they were all over $15, which was just a little more than I wanted to spend on some paper strung together with ribbon. So, I went to Michael's Crafts and found this packet of chip board letters that came with the string to make your own V-Day banner. Cost: $4! It was pretty cute as it was, but I wanted a little more personality, so I purchased two sheets of scrapbook paper, cut them out with my decorative scissors, used double-sided tape to tape on the letters and voila! You have a pretty fancy looking banner for about $6.00.

Here is a close up of the "I" so you can see the decorative paper behind the letter:

Another cute idea that cost next to nothing, was a little packet of glitter hearts and words that I found at Walmart for $2.00. I used the removable adhesive from the 3M hooks to put the words up on the wall and then hot glue-gunned a ribbon to the larger hearts and hung them on the french doors to the patio. (Sorry it's a little difficult to see the window picture - I'm still working on my photography skills).

Lastly, I got this faux flower arrangement a couple years ago on clearance at Target after Valentine's Day for around $5.00. It really looks real... I'm not sure if it does through the camera, but most people think it's real when they see it. Anyhow, just pair it up with a candle you already have and it creates a romantic little display.

Hope that gives you some creative ideas to decorate your home. Happy (early) Valentine's Day everyone!