Valentines Mantel

Hello this cold January day.

I am finally back in my house!

We have been spending a lot of time with my dad.

He isn't sick, but company makes the nights

easier, and he is much happier when someone is 

around.  We have been doing this since

the beginning of September 2014.

So to come home and stay is divine.

It is hard to say how much you really miss your own

surrounding, home, friends, and comfort zone.

But we are happy to help dad.

I have pulled out my valentines box full of treasures.

I forget sometimes what I have in these boxes

that have been packed away, with the things I want to put out

year after year for the seasons.

My family room is a quite large room, so the furniture is is odd places in
contrast with where the wood stove mantel is.
The couch sits in front of it, just as you come in 

the family room door.
 I wanted to share this view of the room.

Many, many moons ago, I saw a fireplace in a huge home that

I really liked.  It didn't have a wood stove in it, but Dana

is insistent that we have a second means of heat for the house

just in case we do not have power.

So thus I have a wood stove in the house.

I honestly has come in handy many times in our lives.

And for several years we heated the house with the

wood stove to save money.

So with just a picture in hand, Dana built this
fireplace and mantel to house the wood stove and
to make me happy. I love a little bit of
Europe in the look of my home.

This year when I pulled out my treasures I decided to pulled together a fun

Valentines Mantel.  I usually just put the love sign up, and call it good.

For many years we owned a custom framing store, so

I have some pretty cool frame stashed in totes to glean from.

I went through frames and chose these.

As I was going through some of my moms

boxes of family pictures and stuff like that, I found these painted boards

with these people painted on them, and my wedding date and name, 

and one for Rachel and Rebecca (our first babies, twins) and their

birth date on them.  

I had a few of these made for myself in the early years of our marriage

but just only last year gave them to the kids that 

the birth dates belonged to.
I had no idea mom had some made for her too.

Since this wall was about love, I included these family treasures.

We have more kids for sure, but these were fun to include on the mantel.

I even left the wire on the frame!

I also included this cute dressed up gal with her red hat, and wool scarf.

It is cold in Utah in January, she has hearts on her gloves

and a heart at the edge of her coat.  It is just so fitting for where I live,

When I walk out the door in January,
 I too am bundled up just like her.

My love sign is getting a bit battered over the years,
so to cover parts of it up with

frames work out good.  The paper comes from my company

The Robin's Nest, and the dew drops that cover the "O" also come from

The Robin's Nest.

 This year I made the "you" banner.  I have come across a few books that are

very out dated.  The pages come from these books.
(also on the mantle are 2 dictionary

books with red edges, some old books I recently found)

I cut the hears from Robin's Nest glitter red classic swirl, and just

cut the "you" from cream paper. 

I was the perfect addition to the mantel.

The big glitter red hearts come from the dollar store.

I have come to find some really fun things there.

And again here it is!

Valentines on my mantel.

I hope you have a great day,

And I hope that you can find some treasures to have

a fun valentines display at your home.

Ciao,

Robin