Valentine’s Day – mamasbrush

Valentine Shelves and 18 Days of…

Valentine Shelves | mamasbrush #Valentineshelves #valentinedecor #redand black #buffalocheck #februarydecor

February is here, and with it comes a change of decor around our home. I decorate a few other places, but none as loved as these amazing shelves my husband made for me out of the beams he took out of our 1900 farmhouse.

A few things I kept from January… my black and white wood bead garland, but I flipped over the circle. This side has “home” on it with a heart. Good all year, but also good for Valentine’s Day. Also, my buffalo check wood house, black snowflake block, my skinny wood snowman (made by one of my boys when they were younge) and some snowballs. In our part of the country we still have snow in February.

New for the month are the ceramic strainer (from Hobby Lobby last year), my XO blocks (also made by one of my boys) and my new red truck (Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago.)

On the bottom shelf I added a couple red felt hearts my oldest daughter made a few years back.

Oh, and the black chalkboard on the left is something I added mid-January and kept over. 18 days ago, in fact. That’s my sugar free count. I’ve been sugar free off and on over the last 4-5 years. But when I get back on it, it’s hard to go off again. I was thinking that the sign would help, and I was right! Today is day 18 off sugar! It keeps me accountable to all the kids. They are such a great cheering section. In those first few days when I would normally be super tempted to start over again at “Day zero”, I hardly struggled because I knew I’d have to write a zero on that board. The other night when I so wanted to have a “cheat” day because everyone else was eating cake and ice cream, I didn’t because of that board.

Have you ever added an accountability board to your decor?

Pin me…

You can find me gathering here.

Customize your Rae Dunn for Valentine’s Day

I got my very first piece of Rae Dunn pottery for Christmas this year. I’ve been looking at how to DIY Rae Dunn type things for a while and pinning everything Rae Dunn before that, but now I have one. Trouble is, what can I do with one piece?

I got the “faith” mug. Isn’t it cute??? But when I think Rae Dunn, I think of all the ways I can use it to decorate seasonally. And don’t you need a dozen or more pieces to be able to do that? Actually, no. You don’t!

Last month I shared with you how I used my one Rae Dunn mug in a winter vignette. When February was approaching, though, I took some pictures of the process for you. (Just meant to share them earlier in the month!)

In the pictures above, you see the word “Faith” on the right. It’s a great word, but I was looking for something else for Valentine’s decor. The left picture shows you something else… a blank canvas!

Customize your Rae Dunn | mamasbrush #RaeDunn #mug #diy #tutorial #decor #valentine'sday

So I grabbed some masking tape and my water based Sharpie paint pen and got to work. (***Note: water based will wash off, oil based may not. Make sure you have the water based paint pen!!!) You could measure, but I just eye-balled the taping to get mostly strait and just far enough apart.

Then I used my most Rae Dunn like writing (notice it isn’t the exact same, but it’s good enough for me) and wrote “kiss me” on the cup. If you mess up, just get a paper towel damp and clean it off to start over.

I did notice that it bled when the paint pen touched the tape, so I tried to be careful not to get so close the second time. But even then, I just folded up a paper towel, dipped it in a bit of water and cleaned up the edges after pulling the tape off.

And I was done (or should I say “Dunn”?) Not sure yet what it will say with spring around the corner, but you can be sure it will be something.

Okay, so I wasn’t completely done…

While I still had my supplies out and was still itching to decorate (I don’t have much Valentine stuff) I pulled out a couple of my little white bowls. I stuck a piece of masking tape around the bottom to give me a straight line and I added words to them too.

They make me smile! 🙂

Gathering here.

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork – You can do this!

Remember that chocolate themed birthday party I threw for my mom? The one I painted the Chocolate Frosted Cupcake for? Yes, the one I haven’t shown you yet. That’s the one! Good memory!

Well, I painted these cute little truffles for that party too. (Pinspiration here.) Again, part gift-part decoration! She actually hung them up already on the wall in her bathroom in little white frames! Yes… it’s adorable!

I painted them with watercolor and added the white with Sharpie Paint Pens. Then I added a touch of black with my Faber Castel thin pen to add shadow and make the white pop. It really helped! Super easy!

You could do this with markers too! Just color in the chocolate with brown marker and then use the white paint pen (a couple coats would help!) and add the black lines at the end. (Keep the black on the same side of the white on all the lines so it has a realistic “shadow” look.) I think they would make adorable greeting cards! Let me know if you try!

Looking at them now (I always notice details like this when I look at the picture of whatever I painted, not before) I think I would put the swirl one in the middle to make it seem more balanced, but that’s because I have issues with symmetry. What do you think? Would you switch them out to put the swirl in the middle? Or do you like them as is? Let me know in the comments!

Gathering here.

Why February 15th Roses are Better

This year Valentine’s Day just happened to fall on our weekly dinner and grocery shopping night. My mom stays with the kids and my husband and I go out. Sometimes it’s a slice of pizza at the store and other times it’s one of the many restaurants we love.

After dinner, we went shopping. Wegman’s is our store of choice. We actually find that it’s “Family Pack” options are less expensive than BJs and Walmart. At any rate, as we entered the store, we walked right into a huge display of roses. Of course they were beautiful! But I wasn’t even interested!

“Those will be cheaper tomorrow!” I said as I skirted around them.

Fast forward to Friday, February 15th. Dinner was running late, so my sweet husband picked up the few things we still needed from Walmart on his way home. When he finally got home, he had these beautiful yellow roses. They are so pretty! And the best part… they were 50% off!

Yes, it’s true, February 15th roses are better than roses on Valentine’s Day… at least for this practical mama!

And that pretty pitcher? We bought it from Bed, Bath and Beyond during our Thursday night shopping trip with a coupon. It matches my new (Black Friday 2018) “fancy” dishes and was only $11.99. (Not an affiliate link) I think we’ll be adding the other serving pieces over the next few months as we have coupons. They will look pretty in my new display cabinet (I’ll have to share pictures of that someday soon) and on my table.

The painting, I decided to do late last night. My father-in-law had arrived late and we were all just talking in the kitchen. The flowers were so pretty just sitting there on my table in my new pitcher and I gave in to the impulse to try to paint them without doing a sketch first. So there I was, standing at the kitchen counter painting while my husband and his dad were sitting on the stools and we all talking.

I started with the yellow, then added the greenery. Last I added just the shading for the white pitcher. (Painting white things is tricky!) I waited til morning to add the pen.

I took a before and after pic for you so you can see the difference between pen and no pen. I’m often afraid to add the pen because I’m happy with how a painting looks so far and I know that I can completely ruin it if I do the pen wrong. But more often than not, I love the end result with pen so much more. It just makes it pop! Not to mention defining lines and clarifying the object being painted.

So which do you like better? Flowers on February 14th or 15th?

Gathering here.

My Shelves Done up for Valentine’s Day

I love these shelves! My husband made them for me out of American Chestnut (Okay, maybe they aren’t American Chestnut. Turns out they are probably something that looks like it, but they are still beautiful and I still love them!) beams from our house. The holes you see there are nail holes that held the lath on. And the little bit of striping is from the spaces between the lath. No stain applied, if I remember correctly.

I love these shelves. They give me a place to add some seasonal fun to my kitchen. It’s just another opportunity for me to be creative. Which, for this month, includes a few ice cream dishes, some sprinkles and cookie cutters. The pink piece of wood with the xo on it was made by my 12 year old son several years ago. On the top shelf is one of my Conversation Hearts and a heart garland my 10 year old daughter made several years ago. That one is one of the things the kids are trying to sell here locally to pay their own way to camp. The jar of candy in the back is sort of just stored there. I’m thankful it’s color scheme works. 🙂

Do you have any little spots for seasonal decor??

Gathering here.

My February Art Journal Prompts

This month, I decided to join in with Awesome Alice and her February Hand Lettering Prompts. That said, I’m doing it my way. 🙂 (I almost never follow a recipe exactly.)

What are my tweaks? First, I’m doing a combination of hand lettering and illustration, depending on my inspiration. Second, I’m not necessarily doing one each day (obviously, since I have the first 7 done already.) But for me, it’s more something to push me out of my comfort zone. I joke with people that if I just painted what I was comfortable all the time, I’d only ever paint pumpkins. But there is some truth to it. 🙂 But I do intend to do all 28… whether I want to or not.

Below, I’m including the original prompt with the pic.

Rose - hand lettered February prompt — 1. “Red Roses”

A love note from God - hand lettered February prompt — 2. “Be Mine”

This is one of my favorites. Isaiah 43:1 says, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (emphasis mine.

Jesus, You are enough - hand lettered February prompt — 3. “You are enough”

Hearts - hand lettered February prompt — 4. “Heart”

Romantic Bunnies - hand lettered February prompt — 5. “Romance”

This is my first attempt at bunnies. I never would have tried them without the prompt.

I love you - hand lettered February prompt — 6. “I love you”

Cupid's Bow - hand lettered February prompt — 7. “Cupid”

Okay, so it’s cupid’s bow. I decided it was close enough.

It has been a super fun challenge for me so far, but I am pretty sure it’s just going to get harder. 🙂

Gathering here.

Valentine Tags in Watercolor

I posted about these tags last year, so there isn’t much to say. I covered the fact that I do indeed know how to spell “delivery”, but something about the phrase “special deLOVery” just makes me smile.

These were a handful of tags I made my first Valentine’s day painting. Just 6 months in. I believe they are inspired by the beautiful works over at Elvie Studio.

I picture them tied to a gift. Maybe a box of chocolate, or bacon roses, or jerkie. Maybe in a care package for a daughter in college, or tucked in a bunch of flowers.

Where would you use them? Here is a printable sheet of them all for you to use. I hope you like them. (Click the link below the image.)

Valentine Tags Printable — Download this 8.5×11 sheet of Valentine Tags here.

I found that they printed better on card stock than on regular paper, but maybe your printer is better than mine. 🙂

***Official legal stuff: Copyright remains my own. Please only use them personally or in your classroom. Print them and give them as gifts. But please don’t distribute them online or claim them as your own. If you want to share them on your own blog, please be sure to give me credit and include a link back here. Thanks! They are my original work and I’d like to be able to continue sharing what I create with you all.

Gathering here.

Conversation Hearts with Bible Truth for Valentine’s Day

It’s a message that everyone needs to hear! That God is love, that Jesus loves you, and that we are to love one another.

Christian Conversation Hearts with Scripture | mamasbrush designs

Valentine’s Day is either looked forward to or dreaded by most. Good relationship with lots of romantic feelings? Good day. Not in a relationship, hurt by someone, alone? Worst day ever.

But it occurred to me a a number of years ago, when I was trying to decide what I wanted to teach my children about this day, that it can be one more opportunity to point them to Jesus.

And so when I started painting a couple years ago, I created these sweet (lol… see what I did there?) little cards, a set of six, that I have framed to display in my home. I don’t know yet where I’ll put them this year (our home is ever being renovated, so each year my set up is different), but that’s not really the question you need to ask yourself. The question you need to ask is where will YOU put them?

I made them smaller for giving out too! The kids at school or church? Perfect! A way to encourage others or tell them about Jesus! I love to put a little Valentine on the breakfast plate for each of my kids on Valentine’s Day. It’s a great start to our homeschool day!

UPDATE: As of 2022, I’ve started an Etsy shop. I’ve updated these cards a bit and cleaned them up. They are available now! Click over for clipart, prints, and cards!

***Also: More Valentine Printables here and here!

Speaking of spreading the message, will you help me? I haven’t found much of this sort of Valentine decor and cards around and I’d like as many people as possible to have access to them. Would you please share this post on social media? Pin it, tweet it, post it somewhere. Do it yourself or click on the share it buttons at the bottom of the post. I’d really appreciate it!

And if you print anything for yourself? Please leave me a comment! I’d love to know what you plan to do with them! 🙂

Go forth and share the message of God’s love with those around you!

Gathering here.

Snowman Valentines

With February upon us at last, I’d like to share some of my fun Valentine-y goodness. Last year I shared these little cuties with you. I still just love them!

That cute cuddling couple! Something about cold, icy, snow people cuddling makes me smile still.

And that snow-mama with her little snow-baby. Melts my heart! (pun intended!)

I hope you like them as much as I do… and (Updated 12/2023), just in case you do, I’m making them available in my shop! You can find the “snow mama” card and a new snow mama design now.

And, surprise!!! They are now customizable with Canva! Click through to find out how that works, but you can change the text to suit you and your family!

I’m hoping to have the “Snow Couple” cards done before the end of the year! I’ll update this post when they are done, but if you want to keep an eye out, click over to my shop and hit the “follow shop” button at the top. You’ll see in your “updates” section when they are listed!

If you aren’t ready for it now, pin it for later… and while you are at it, follow me on Pinterest to find all sorts of great inspiration!

Gathering here.

God is Love Conversation Hearts Repeating Pattern

It’s been a month since I’ve entered a Spoonflower Design Challenge. Life just got too hard. And on top of it all, my husband’s at home schooling got behind and my access to Photoshop is tied to his computer. Not a problem… I had plenty else to do!

This week the theme is a little Valentine’s repeating pattern. I painted these fun hearts last year, but they weren’t done, so I only blogged a few of them. It’s a little early for V-Day, even for me, but since I entered these in the challenge, I thought I’d share it with you. Head over to vote if you like it! 🙂

I’m hoping to share my original COMPLETED project with you closer to February. Stay tuned!

Gathering here.

Tag: Valentine’s Day

Valentine Shelves and 18 Days of…

Customize your Rae Dunn for Valentine’s Day

Easy Chocolate Truffle Artwork – You can do this!

Recommended Reading:

Why February 15th Roses are Better

My February Art Journal Prompts

Valentine Tags in Watercolor

Conversation Hearts with Bible Truth for Valentine’s Day

Snowman Valentines

God is Love Conversation Hearts Repeating Pattern