Valentine's Day Table Setting: Welcome to the 181st Tablescape Thursday!

It was another gorgeous day here...is this really February?  Since the temps reached 67 degrees today, I headed for the porch for this Tablescape Thursday.

Before we get started, the winner of the shopping spree at French Bleu Vintage has been announced on the Giveaway post, HERE.  Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway.

I know Valentine's Day is behind us now, but I had to squeeze in one more Valentine's Day table setting before we say good-bye to that holiday for another year.  I had envisioned this tablescape with red roses in the centerpiece, but unfortunately all the ones I found today were still closed up tight...not quite what I had in mind.
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Eye Candy for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  Did you get a chance to visit the wonderful Before and Afters posted for yesterday's Met Monday?  I was once again blown away by all the wonderful talent and creativity in Blogland!

I started to name today's post, "Hijacked" because this post started out with one topic and it kind of morphed into something else.  You'll see what I mean in a sec.

If you've been reading BNOTP for a while, you probably remember this little feather tree.  I found it one Christmas for 50% off at Michael's and placed it here in the guest room.

This past Christmas I decided to use it in the upstairs family room, instead.  I know you can't tell, but it's decorated with clear, etched glass orbs, crystal-like garland and a crystal/beaded snowflake on top.   Well, the squeaky wheels started turning and I thought, hey, wouldn't a feather tree be cute decorated for Valentine's Day?  Hold that thought.
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Decorating for Valentine's Day: Welcome to the 160th Metamorphosis Monday!

Valentine's Day is tomorrow.  I love that holiday.  How can you not love a day that's all about chocolate, romance and ♥ LOVE! ♥

It makes me smile when I remember bringing Valentine's Day cards to school.   If I close my eyes, I can still see all the colorful construction-paper folders we made and decorated.  They were strung along the wall where they patiently waited to be filled with sweet valentines.

When February 14th arrived, the classroom became a little bee's nest as we scurried around carefully placing the tiny envelopes in the correct folders.  Do you remember the night before, reading the valentines and carefully choosing just the right valentine card for each friend, especially if that friend was your classroom crush?

Oh, the excitement of opening the valentines the next day!  I always wondered what those little envelopes would hold.  Would it be candy, a message from a "secret admirer" or just a friendly valentine?  Maybe it was all those Nancy Drew books I was reading.  Whatever it was, I loved and still love the mystery and intrigue of this special day.

This Valentine's Day, my crush is you.  Will you be my Valentine?  ♥  Check: Yes √ or  No √.  ;)

The guest bedroom received a little Valentine's Day decorating.
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How to Make Music-Covered Hearts for Valentine's Day: A Tutorial

Yesterday for our Tablescape Thursday, I shared a Valentine's Day table setting with a sweet, romantic easy-to-make centerpiece.  I had been plotting thinking for some time about creating a willowy little "tree" with the River Birch branches I'm always picking up from my front yard.  

I decided to decorate my little birch tree with hearts so I checked several places online.  During my search I came across some cute, papier-machéd, music covered hearts and I loved the look, but not so much the price, especially since  I knew I would need a good many to fill my tree.    

So, I began thinking about how I could make hearts similar to those I had seen online.  I really didn't want to  papier-maché the hearts so I decided to shop the discount stores for inexpensive, small hearts for decoupaging.  I'm still sort of new to this decoupaging thing, having just tried it out for the first time back around Halloween when I decoupaged a couple of pumpkins in THIS post and THIS post.  But I figured, if you can decoupage pumpkins, why not little hearts.

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Valentine's Day Table Setting: Welcome to the 180th Tablescape Thursday!

Valentine's Day is just a few days away.   Did you forward your Valentine's Day cards to the Valentine, Texas Post Master to have them postmarked with their famous stamp?  Such a cute idea!

We've been having spring-like weather for weeks here in Georgia.  Even the daffodils are in full bloom.  The porch was calling, begging me to come out and play.   Just look at all that glorious sunshine!
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Inspiration for Your Valentine's Day Table: Welcome to the 177th Tablescape Thursday!

Hi Friends!  How was your day?  I spent the first half of mine in a contacts exam.  Finding contacts that work as they should when you're...Ahem...my age, isn't much fun.  Monovision doesn't work anymore (been there, done that) and astigmatism makes all lens choices a challenge, even the ones that are designed especially for astigmatism.  We're going to try a new multi-focal.

Have you heard of Duette contacts?  They are a hybrid lens, rigid gas permeable in the center of the lens and a soft lens everywhere else.  They won't work for my eyes but it's an interesting concept for sure.  Google it and you can read about them.  I love that they keep trying to come up with new ideas for contacts, "poking the box" as Seth Godin would say.
 
After a morning at the eye doctors, the afternoon was spent at my credit union having a safety deposit box drilled out.  The key was lost long ago and I claim zero responsibility for that.  I'm not naming names, but... ;)  Did you know when you lose your safety deposit box key, they charge you $175 to drill out the lock?  Writing that check was painful.

The box hadn't been opened since 1991 and opening it today caught me completely off guard.  It was like opening a little time capsule.  Tears were shed as I went through the contents.
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Valentine's Day Gift or Craft Centerpiece

The Valentine's Day table setting I posted for TT this week had a yummy centerpiece that is also great to make and give as a cute gift. This centerpiece was created in colors of red, pink and silver for Valentine's Day, but you can create the same centerpiece/gift with candy bars in pastel colors for Easter or Mother's Day or for a birthday gift. This also makes a great end-of-year gift for a favorite teacher.



Years ago, I bought one of these "sundaes" for my son. When I was moving everything out of his room to make way for a home office, I came across it again. He had never taken it apart to eat it...what was wrong with that boy?! ☺

I thought it would make a fun centerpiece for a Valentine's table, so I took it apart to see exactly how it was made and then recreated it with new candy. I've put together a little tutorial...you are going to love how easy this is to make.




To make this "sundae" you'll need:
Hot glue gun
1 parfait glass
50-55 small snack size candy bars (in whatever color is appropriate for your needs)
1 four-inch styrofoam ball (cut in half)
50-55 Floral U-pins (available in craft stores)
1 bendy straw (any grocery store should have these)
1 or 2 pieces of white tulle (around 6-8 inches in size) to represent the whipped topping
1 round red candy or truffle to represent the cherry on top
Time needed to make: Around 15 minutes




Here's a little close up of the floral U-pins. Before you get started, cut the 4" styrofoam ball in half.




Start by filling your parfait glass up with candy bars. Next, run a bead of hot glue around the top rim of the parfait glass. (The hot glue is visible in the pic below.)




Press the halved styrofoam ball onto the hot glue. Give that a minute to dry, then you're all set to start adding the tiny candy bars.




Take a floral U-pin and poke it through the edge of the paper on one end of the candy bar. You have to push pretty hard to get the floral pins to pierce the strong wrapper on the candy bar, so I worked atop a thick piece of foam board. A plastic cutting board would work well, also.




Starting at the bottom, stick the candy bars into the styrofoam ball all the way around as shown below. Repeat this process for two more rows. I got so carried away with adding the candy bars, I forgot to take pictures again until I had them all on.




I just went around and around layering them close enough to each other to hide the white of the styrofoam underneath. Three rows did the job, but I added 3-4 candy bars on top to finish it off and to make sure none of the styrofoam would be visible. I ended up using around 46 candy bars. Buy a few more just to be safe. You don't want to run out...plus, there's nothing wrong with a few leftovers for the creator of the sundae. ☺




Once all the candy bars are in place, take your bendy straw and bend/crimp it about 1/3 up from the bottom of the straw. Add a drop of hot glue to where you crimped the straw, then just push the straw down into the styrofoam ball.




Gather your tulle into kind of a poof and add some hot glue to the bottom where it's gathered together. I used two small pieces of tulle. That was easier than trying to keep one larger piece gathered together. Then just stick it onto the center/top of the styrofoam ball. You could probably use the floral pins to attach it, but hot glue worked better for keeping the tulle in the poofy shape I had created.




You're almost done. Just take your truffle or round piece of red candy and hot glue it in the center of the tulle, to represent the cherry on the top of your sundae.




That's it...all done!




When the pastel colored candy bars begin appearing in the stores any day now, you could make one of these for Easter. A candy-bar sundae would make a cute end-of-year gift for a teacher or a birthday gift for a friend or co-worker. Happy sundae making! ☺



You'll find additional Valentine's Day tablescapes, HERE. After you click, just scroll down to the header topic: "Valentines."