Valentine's Day Craft

I'l admit, I've never been much of a decorator.  Our house doesn't have a ton of accents.  We don't have shelves filled with pictures and nik naks. The only time I've ever changed what sits on our mantle was for Christmas and I always put the same thing up, year after year.

And then I joined Pintrest.  Ah, Pintrest...the giant vortex that sucks you into a land of ideas for parties you will never throw, fashion you will never own, home improvement ideas that will never be implemented and pictures of kitchens that you will never occupy (and of course the occasional picture of Ryan Gosling).

I'll admit, I try to only pin things that I think I'll try.  But even I have crafts, recipes and outfit ideas pinned that I'll never use. However, Pintrest has led me to "up" the way I decorate.  And for the first time ever, I have decorated my mantle for Valentine's Day!

I saw a pin the other day for these lovely rose balls.  You can see the tutorial on how to make them here. Now I'm all about decor that is cheap, and let's face it, what's cheaper than crepe paper? So I set out to make some crepe paper flower balls.

I started out by cutting strips of tissue paper.  Then I folded each strip in half lengthwise, and twisted it into a rosette. Amy at The Idea Room even has a video showing how to twist the rosettes up!

Then I used hot glue to affix each rosette to a styrofoam ball.  And let me tell you, I used a LOT of glue!

The end result was an adorable rose ball.  I made three and placed them on wrought iron candle holders that usually occupy our mantle.

While I was at Hobby Lobby picking up supplies to make the rose balls, I also got some cardboard letters. I got an L, V, and E as well as a heart shaped box.  I painted all the letters red and used the lid of the box for the O to spell out "LOVE" in the center of the mantle.

I added some Valentine's Day garland to the glass hurricane I already had on the mantle and, behold! A beautiful Valentine's Day Mantle! And it was all done on the cheap which makes my husband happy!

How has Pinterest inspired you lately? Have you been inspired to decorate for holidays that you typically wouldn't decorate for?