Authentique Design Team Valentine Blog Hop

If you are looking for the Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop, click HERE.

Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentines Day! I created this fun home decor project as part of a special blog hop the Authentique Paper team is having today. I always love when we get together and do a group post! There is always so much goodness to look at!  

I am starting to be able to spend some time in the studio again! {YAY!} I was trying to think of something fun to make that would not take dog's years to accomplish, and hit on doing some fun home decor for Valentine's Day.

This little try arrived filled with some goodies from my mother-in-law, and it was so cute that it made me really want to use it for something. The tray is about 8" x 12", and it started out as plain wood, so I painted it white. (This is a really flimsy tray, but it's good enough for a little seasonal decor piece.) I trimmed down the Romance One paper to fit the tray, then added it after the paint dried. 

Once I had the tray finished, I decided to add some other goodies to it. I poked around in my craft closet to see what I had in there. Since I am still not allowed to lift anything heavy, I could not get to my big bins off the top shelf, but these items were in a bin on the floor: an empty frappuccino bottle, a pink candy dish (with ugly cupcakes around the edge), and part of a Graphic 45 matchbook box. Hmmmmmm.... 

I decided to start with the frappuccino bottle. It had been on my mind to try some chalk paints on glass. About 2-3 years ago I purchased some chalk paint...and never got to the project! Sadly, when I pulled out the paint, most of it was sludge and unusable! (Why do I buy stuff and then never get around to using it until it's too late???!!!)

I did find some pink and white paint that was still...paint, and used that. I poured some thinned paint into the bottle and swished it around. I did a few coats, letting it dry between. It took forever to dry with the damp weather we've been having! 

I glued some bobble ribbon around the top of the bottle and also glued one of the Romance punch-outs to the bottle. I also painted the lid and had my husband drill holes in the top for my dowels. I covered the top of the lid with a paper circle.

I was out of dowels, which required a trip to the home improvement store! Luckily we were headed there anyway to buy paint for our master bedroom! I got three 12" long dowels from each length I purchased, which is pretty good for about 80 cents each for the 3-foot dowels. 

I painted the dowels white and then added some pizzazz to the top of each one. 

I die cut doilies, circles, hearts, and more and added them to the dowels. The paper and punch outs made it super easy! I also added a few flowers. 

I love how milky-pink the bottle looks! (Sorry, I had to photograph it on its side due to how tall it is! I had a hard time fitting it into my light box thingie!)  

The little pink candy dish got a new suit of clothes as well to hide the hideous cupcakes that were around the edge. I wrapped the dish in Romance Five and added the same bobble ribbon around the edge. 

I could not find any Valentine candy so I put things to make tags into my little dish! Cut apart images, tags, ribbon, and so forth.  

The little Papier-mâché box is bottom half of a Graphic 45 matchbook box. I have no clue where the top is! This had already been painted white, which was a plus! I simply added the Romance papers to all the surfaces and then glued one of the punch-out sentiments to the box. 

I filled the box with more things to make tags: flowers, sequins, pearls, enamel shapes, and so forth. I also allowed some of the little items to spill out onto the tray for extra decor. (They are actually glued in place so that I can move the tray around without spillage!)

I had a blast getting all messy in the studio after so long away! I hope you had fun visiting the blog! 

To see all of the projects from the team, follow the list below:

Daniela Costa
Ginny Nemchak
Gloria Stengel - You are HERE
Heather Conklin
Kathy Clement
Kay Fatula

Pam Bray

Authentique Supplies:
Romance Collection Pack (12x12 paper and Elements Punch-outs)

Other Supplies:
Chalk paint: DecoArt Americana Decor Innocence, Promise
Acrylic paint: Plaid Fold Art Wicker White
Ink: Ranger Distress Spun Sugar, Festive Berries
Box: Graphic 45 small matchbook box (retired)
Sequins, enamel hearts, beads: stash
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts  
Candy dish: Michael's $1 spot
Bottle: Starbucks
Ribbon: craft store
Dowels: Lowe's Home Improvement
Dies: My Favorite Things Stichable Heart Stax, Stitched Circle Stax; Spellbinders Heart Circles; Cheery Lynn Designs French Pastry Doily
Adhesive: white glue, hot glue, ATG tape, Scor-tape, foam tape