Fall in Love with Valentine's DIY

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and whether you are looking to get your home ready for the holiday or just need some DIY gift ideas, I have you covered. I love this time of year because the colors most commonly associated with the holiday are my personal favorites: pink, gold, and glitter. I just can’t get enough of them, and I finally had an excuse this weekend to go all out!

Since Valentine’s Day is only one day, I was not looking to spend a large sum of money, but I still wanted to make my apartment look cute and share some love with my family and friends. Being the Pinterest addict that I am, I headed there first for some inspiration and was not disappointed. I decided on just a few festive additions to place around my apartment and then beautiful handmade cards to send around the country, all for under $30.

Golden Rule

Since flowers are such a big part of this holiday, I decided to dress up your traditional vase and add a little extra class. I found this idea when I was browsing through the Valentine’s Craft Section on Pinterest and fell in love instantly! I decided to take a little different spin on it and go with a larger vase, so that I can fill it with flowers from the Farmer’s Market this week.

What you need:

• 2 (or more) Glass Vases
• Painter’s Tape
• Gold Metallic Spray Paint
• Trash Bag or Newspaper to lay out

I spent the most money on this craft because I needed to go to JoAnn’s for spray paint, so I decided to just pick up the vases there as well because if you know LA at all, battling the Saturday afternoon traffic wasn’t worth saving $1 getting them somewhere else – I would have spent more on gas and parking. With that said, I still only spent $8 total because they too were having a great sale, and I was able to use the tape and newspapers that we already had lying around the apartment. Right now there are awesome JoAnn’s coupons as well, for your own projects!

When you are ready, just add the painter’s tape in whatever design you choose. (I went with a swirl for both of mine). Make sure the painter’s tape in pressed down firmly, so that paint doesn’t leak through and then start spraying. I would suggest doing two light coats instead of a lot at once because the paint will drip if there is too much on. I learned that the hard way. Once it is dry, remove the tape and you are left with beautiful vases like these:

Sweet Lighting

This one is my favorite craft that I worked on because I think the result is cute, and it was so simple. The quintessential Valentine’s candy is conversation hearts, aside from chocolate that is, so I definitely wanted to use those. I did see other projects with red and pink candies and also hot tamales, but the conversation hearts are in bright colors and have cute messages that add more to the room. For this craft, I headed to the dollar store to get inexpensive jars, candy, and candles. Once again, I only spent $6 on this, and I am obsessed.

What you need:

• 2 Glass Jars/Vases
• 2 Candles (real or flameless)
• 2 Bags of Conversation Hearts Candy
• Pink Ribbon

I placed my flameless candle in first because it was on the taller side and then filled in the hearts around the sides, trying to mix up having some of the messages exposed and some hidden. It took about a full bag of candy, filled to the brim, and then I followed up by tying a pretty sparkly pink ribbon along the top. They make the prefect addition to my kitchen table and take only 10 minutes to make. They would also make perfect gifts for your friends and family!

Sent with Love

Any of these crafts can serve as gifts, but if you are just looking to send something small to those that you care, try making a homemade card! Save yourself the $5 the stores are charging. I found old scrapbook paper that was lying around the house to make some cards to send out to my family and friends back east! I went for a more traditional looking card, but you can also go old school and send actual “Valentines” like we sent in Elementary school, in the shape of hearts with cute poems or sayings. This is your opportunity to be as corny as you want, with no judgment, since that is what Valentine’s Day is all about: letting people know how much you love them!

Are you going to try any of these DIY crafts? Share with me below!