Creating a Valentine's Day Mantle

One thing that I LOVED as a kid was the way my mom decorated for holidays. The mantle was always the centerpiece of the decorations, and she would go all out. It didn't matter if it was Christmas, St. Patricks Day, or even Chinese New Year, the mantle (and other parts of the house) would always be decked out.  I have always decorated my mantle for spring, fall and christmas, but this year I think I'm going channel my mom and add in some more holidays, because if my kids are anything like me, they will love it.

So with Valentine's Day coming soon, I went around the house and gathered any accessories that might work. And then I went to Michael's and found two gold frames for $6 and $4 on clearance as well as two bouquet of flowers for $8. I also went online to Etsy and found a great digital download for $5 to put in one of frames.

I had a large silver mirror that needed some updating, so I got out one of my old sample cans of paint (Toasted White by Behr) and did three coats on the mirror. I never throw away old paint samples because they come in handy for situations like this. Anyway, I don't have a picture of the before, but just imagine a dull, flaking, discolored silver mirror and you get the idea. I spent zero dollars here.

Also, for Family Home Evening last night, we talked about love and family and cut out a bunch of hearts and wrote the names of everyone in our families, and strung them to a thin wire and hung it to the mantle. FHE lesson and decoration in one! Score! And I already had all of the supplies, so this was a free project too.

So in total I spent less than $25 on a valentines mantle. Not too bad.

Next I hung the mirror, and all the accessories and pictures I gathered and put them on the mantle, just to assess what I had and brainstorm a little.

Then I pulled everything off and put the largest things back on where I thought they would look good. 

Then I added the medium sized things. 

And then I added the smaller accessories. 

 After that I stepped back and took a good look at it. And then I rearranged it again. 

But I felt like it was a little off balance and so I added the other smaller frame I had bought. 

 I tweaked the arrangement a little and this is the final product. 

Of course, knowing me, I will probably change it up again, but for now, here's our Valentine mantle! I don't think I've ever created a mantle that looked so feminine, but I kinda like it. 

What about you? Do you decorate your mantle for Valentine's Day?