Another holiday is right around the corner and depending on your personality (or relationship status, ha) you either love or hate this one – love everywhere, prepping for a fun night out (or in, in my case), flowers, the color PINK, tiny candy hearts … as you may have guessed I’m in the “love it” camp on this one … Valentine’s Day!!! I’m a sucker for really any holiday and no, we shouldn’t need a special day to shower the one we love with affection and goodies but isn’t it so fun nonetheless? Mine and J’s personal couple tradition since before we were even married has been to dress up and have a fancy dinner at home (this year’s meal includes a special shrimp appetizer that is a Schulze original and as long as it isn’t a total bust I plan on sharing it on the blog next week!). We prefer sharing a few cocktails in the relaxed environment of our own home, cooking a super fancy meal together  and really enjoying each other’s company as opposed to spending our Valentine’s Day in a crowded restaurant. It’s the simple things, right? Which brings me to this wreath – a super simple way to have an eye-catching door all month long!

A few years (and a few pounds *sigh* lol) ago in our old place having our traditional “fancy” night in.

I was originally inspired by a wreath I came across on Pinterest (pictured below). Since the only necessary components seemed to be a grape vine wreath, a wooden letter and an assortment of ribbon, this seemed to be an easy fix for my Valentine’s Day door! I have been super into grapevine wreaths lately and have quite a few posts about them on the backburner (here is a fun springtime wreath using a grapevine frame) but for now I will say that I love them for a few reasons but mostly because they’re super cheap (you can get one for under $5.00, however, I  always use a coupon so it will come in around $2.50 or so) and they are super easy to work with; the tightly wound vines allow things to be stuck into them easily and pretty much any adhesive bonds well with them so it is easy to adhere embellishments as well. This wreath is very reminiscent of my St. Patty’s Day Rag Wreath which utilized mostly left over crafting supplies to create and I applied that same idea here as most of my ribbon I had on hand or was able to find half off at Hobby Lobby. This is a great beginner’s wreath as it doesn’t require any particular skill so if you can tie a knot you can do it, I promise, lol! Check out the tutorial below and if you’re feeling adventurous hop on over to my other Valentine’s Day posts (an Oversized Porch Sign and another Valentine’s Day Wreath) for some more crafting inspiration in this month of love xoxo.

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Schulzes to you!!!

My “pinspiration” – follow the link to find this particular wreath for sale here on Etsy – http://www.etsy.com/listing/175318886

My version!

SUPPLIES

• 12″ grapevine wreath – available at any craft store or where crafting supplies are sold.
• assortment of wired ribbon of varying sizes – it isn’t 100% necessary to use wired ribbon but the ribbon will look more poofy and have a bit more structure and ability to stand up to the elements this way. The amount of ribbon is totally up to you, I think I used about six.
• wooden letter – I chose to paint mine white and then add some hearts using this method. You can always just draw hearts or polka dots using an oil based Sharpie paint pen as well.
• paint (for wooden letter, optional) –  latex, spray paint, acrylic really anything will do. I chose to spray paint mine because I already had some on hand and it’s probably the easiest method.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. If you plan to paint your wooden letter, do this first. With any luck it will be dry by the time you finish the rest of the wreath.
2. Begin by cutting your ribbon into about 3-4 inch strips. Some can be longer or shorter and in fact it’s more fun if they are not all the same size so that it creates a less uniform look.
3. Next, begin tying your ribbons randomly onto different areas of the half of the wreath you’ve chosen to decorate. Simply loop the ribbon under one of the vines and then tie – that’s it! Repeat in this fashion until you’ve achieved a dense look with little to no wreath base showing through.
4. To attach your wooden letter either tie it on using ribbon or if you have access to a staple gun (which is what I did) staple a pipe cleaner or other wire to the back of the letter and tie it onto the wreath in this manner.
5. At this point feel free to add any additional embellishments (like my little glittery Styrofoam hearts) – the dollar store is a great resource for little things like this!

That’s it! If you’re like me and measure units of time in “naptimes” then this should only take you about 3/4 of a naptime lol. 

Last year’s Valentine’s Day porch!