RE-cycling Holiday Decor: My Budget St. Valentine's Day Mantel

XMAS ORNAMENTS RECAST. I enjoy decorating for all the holidays, but it's a hobby that can easily get out of hand.  A great way to limit the decorations you buy, store and maintain is to find ones that can serve more than one holiday. The cherubs, above, are ornaments for our main Christmas tree. A dab of hot glue converts my ornaments into figurines. I can later peel the dried glue off easily without causing damage to either the mantel or the ornaments.  Cherub, red, pink or white ball ornaments or white dove/love bird ornaments can all pull double duty as Valentine's Day decor. For example, dump a bunch of red glass ornaments in a tray or a glass vase, add a few cupid picks and viola, a Valentine's Day arrangement.  I use cross Christmas tree ornaments for Easter decor, our deep green ball ornaments & ribbon for St. Patrick's Day and our gold, green & purple ball ornaments for Mardi Gras,  Not only do I get extra use out of my ornaments and save $$$, but it makes packing up all my Christmas decor in January less of a chore because there is less to pack away until next November! Double score!

Making a few holiday items go a long way. Here's my St. Valentine's Day Mantel. In addition to reusing angel & heart Christmas tree ornaments, I used framed old Valentine Day cards, a DIY red felt pomander and a few new purchases from the Dollar Store or the Dollar Section of Target to satisfy my holiday decorating urge for a bargain $6.

VISUAL POP.  To save $ and space, I shop around my home for things I already own that can be used in a holiday display versus buying new items.  Here, I originally considered using silver & porcelain heart jewelry boxes and crystal cherub and heart shaped figurines I already have. They are finer crafted, more elegant decorations than the ones I used, but I went with inexpensive bright red items believing the visual contrast with the deep blue walls would be more festive. To me, visual pop was more important and luckily there are all sorts of ways to bring in color easily & inexpensively to supplement other display items.

VERSATILE FRAMES.  I've found that a few ornate gold frames are a great decorating staple.  These ornate gold picture frames sometimes hold family photos, but in February, they display old Valentine's Day cards and in March & April, they hold pretty Spring holiday note cards.   They dress up anything they display. I like re-purposing old holiday cards this way because I get to enjoy them instead of sticking them into a memory box that won't be opened for years.   Party invitations framed and used as table decor would be another great use.  

SOMETHINGS OLD, NEW & MADE.   The red ribbons hanging in front of the mantel were bought at Michael's and Target for $1 each. The red glittery plastic plate was purchased at a local grocery store for $1 on clearance after Valentine's Day.  The gold hearts are both Christmas tree decorations.  I stuck one of the gold hearts on a floral tube I got from a floral bouquet and spray painted gold. I painted a piece of hard wire, threaded it thru the plastic tube and tied it to the heart ornament to make it stand upright on top of a felt pomander to create a topiary design.  The red felt pomander was a simple craft project. 

FELT ROSETTE POMANDER DIRECTIONS.  This is such an easy project and perfect for Valentine's Day.  Use an old CD to draw a circle on a piece of felt. Cut out the circle and then cut the circle into a spiral as shown above. Pinch the small end of the spiral and wrap the rest of the spiral around it to form a rosette. Do a bunch of rosettes and hot glue them to a form ball or to a wreath form to create a lovely Valentine's Day decoration.  It is so easy you can make a bunch while watching your favorite tv show and not miss a thing.  It's also an inexpensive craft since a sheet of felt costs about 25 cents and makes multiple rosettes.

Hope this entry may spark some shopping around your own inventory of holiday decor and mementos for creative repurposing. Remember - store less, use what you have more.

Written by Eldarose