Valentines Decor!

Last weekend my best friend Mel and I were on a mommy shopping day.  Our mission?  Find decor for our mantles for Valentines Day!  But, at the end of the day- we went home empty handed.  I told Mel- either I am getting too picky, or there just isn't good stuff out there that isn't cheesy.  My solution?  Make the decor myself of course!  Today I am going to show you how I made a cute wire decor for my mantle.

 Here is what you will need:
-Wire
-Wire Cutters
-A marker or something round like a dowel
-Hot Glue
-Scrapbook Paper or paint
-Modge Podge
-A piece of Wood (I like to use crown molding)

Now, I started this project with a specific quote in mind.  I wanted to use the Beatles lyric, "All you need is love, love is all you need."  I just wasn't sure HOW I was going to get it up there.  I went into  Michaels with the thought of buying wooden letters and painting them.  But- HOLY CANOLI at a $1.50-$1.99 per letter, that was WAY too expensive for 5 weeks of decor.  Then I stumbled upon some Christmas wire that was 80% off!  Now, I have never done ANYTHING with wire before, but I figured I would give it a shot!

I went home and got to work.  I was cutting and bending wire like a mad woman!  Here is what I ended up with-

OK- now to the fun part.  Here is how I bent the wire (the example below is of me making a heart for the center)

Start by cutting a piece of wire to work with- 

Next, to make the bottom of the heart, I folded the wire in half, and gently crimped it with my wire cutters (be careful not to push too hard or you will cut it!) to create a nice bend.

The comes the fun part!  Start bending the wire how ever you want to form your shape (or letter)

To curl the ends, simply wrap the wire around a marker, or a wooden dowel.

And before you know it- your shape is done! 

Now you have all of these fun shapes and letters that you can use to decorate however you want.  Glue them to wreaths, hang them from ribbon- you name it!  I decided I wanted mine to stand on the mantle, so my next project was to glue them to wood.  I wanted something different from a solid color- so I modge podged my wood to make it different.  Here's how you do it:

Cover your wood with modge podge while your paper soaks in some warm water (the warm water softens the paper enough to make it easy to work with!) 

Next, lay your scrapbook paper on the wood, and gently fold it into creases, and over the edges.  When you are done, add another coat of modge podge.

Now you have to be patient and let it dry!  The hardest part for me :)When your wood dries, you are ready to add your letters!  This part is easy peasy, just hot glue the bottoms, and put them where you want them-

Now, here is the part that is NOT so easy- the decorating part (DUN DUN DUN!!!) Now, this is the thing that makes me different than your average blogger.  I'm not perfect- and I am not an interior designer!  So, as you are decorating any space- just remember it is ok to mess up- do something and then change it, or make multiple trips to the craft store :)  Just remember- if you get frustrated, walk away for the rest of the day.  When you look at it the next day with fresh eyes, you will have a new perspective. 

So, I started this project wanting to use black flowers- I looooove black.  No clue why, but I thought black flowers with some red and white mixed in would be really cool!

But, dang it!  It just didn't look right- my letters were hard to see.  So back to the store I went, to buy white flowers.  I started by pushing them right up against the letters- 

Then I realized Chad would be upset that I was blocking the remote receiver, so I scooted them back a bit, and voila!

Here's the full mantle- (I promise the words show up better in real life- HA!)

So now you are all set to make some awesome wire decor.  Go crazy and make letters for your kiddos room, your kitchen, your living room, or whatever!  And tag me in your pics when you are done!

XO
Cass