As I said before, I don't normally decorate for Valentine's Day, but this year courtesy of Pinterest and a link up party at HomestoriesAtoZ, I decided I would dec out the mantle this year.

I already blogged about how I used the old girls' room paint chips to make a DIY garland:

Because of my January $20/week budget challenge I couldn't afford to spend a penny on this project so I needed to scour the house for anything else that could pass as valentine's day decor. I decided on my Christmas wreath that had previously been hanging on the mantle:

To make it less christmassy I used the remaining paint chips and cut around the voids left by my hole punch to make heart outlines for my wreath.

I scrounged around the kids' toy closet and settled on some wooden blocks to spell out a little Valentine's Day message.  The extras I threw into some little glass canisters.  I also found E's pink feather boa and used that to pump up the pink factor.

I also decided to make a rustic board sign using crepe paper streamer roses that I found on pinterest:

I will do a step by step tutorial in the future.  It was made completely out of supplies I had laying around the house, so it was free.

I had an ivory Lenox vase and matching bud vase that I filled with budding branches I cut from our flowering pear tree and added some red candles in crystal candlesticks left over from christmas.  (They are actually no longer standing up straight, they are kinda warped, but they will have to do.) I also added a row of candles I got at IKEA last summer and that have been sitting in my closet ever since:

I had the big pom poms I made for E's birthday party leftover and I put those on the hearth to complete the pinkness.

I am not madly in love with it.  It is a little hodge podge for my blood, but it was absolutely free with only things I already had laying around the house.  Not bad when you take that into account!