DIY VINTAGE VALENTINE'S DAY HEART WREATH AND MY FARMHOUSE VALENTINES DISPLAY

February 06, 2022

DIY VINTAGE VALENTINE'S DAY HEART WREATH AND MY FARMHOUSE VALENTINES DISPLAY

Hello Friends!

Today's Post

Today I am sharing my DIY Valentine's Day heart wreath and my Farmhouse style Valentine's Day display.

I'm also sharing some Valentine's Day history and fun facts!

So let's get started!

What Is Valentine's Day and When is it Celebrated?

Over the years (and centuries), Valentine's Day has been a religious celebration, an ancient ritual day, and a commercial holiday.

Many people celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, chocolates and jewellery to show their love or affection for another person.

Valentine's Day is traditionally celebrated annually on 14 February.

The History of St Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day was a feast day in the Catholic religion around 500 AD. The day was commemorated for martyred saints named Valentine. Differing legends celebrate three different saints called Valentine or Valentinus. There were conflicting reports of the Saint Valentine Day story leading to this event being removed from the Christian liturgical calendar in 1969.

There are several legends of Saint Valentine One legend says that Saint Valentine refused to convert to paganism and was executed by Roman Emperor Claudius II. Prior to his death, he was able to miraculously heal the daughter of his jailer, who then converted to Christianity along with his family.

Another legend says a bishop called Saint Valentine of Terni is the true namesake of the holiday. This Saint Valentine was also executed.

The third legend is that Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who performed weddings for soldiers forbidden to marry. This Saint Valentine wore a ring with a Cupid on it—a symbol of love. Because of this legend, St. Valentine became known as the patron saint of love.

My Farmhouse Style Valentine's Day Themed Display

This little area in the living room is where we usually have our Christmas tree. The chippy old door was a new addition to our home last year. It makes the perfect backdrop for photos and seasonal displays, especially with a small vintage table in front of it!

The white shutters were hanging in the hallway, but I've been changing that area up lately with a few paintings.

DIY Heart Wreath

It wouldn't be farmhouse without a wreath, right? 😍

Materials Used

A pliable coat hanger. I purchased a packet of 10 from Bunnings for less than $3.
Bird Netting wire. I purchased this roll of 2m x .9m wire from Bunnings for $12. (There's plenty left for more projects).
Red and white fabric ribbon. I purchased my ribbon at Ronis for a few dollars a roll. I used less than one roll of 4 metres.
Neutral canvas fabric and plain vintage red coloured fabric (torn into strips). You could also use burlap strips or any fabric you like, that works for a Valentine's Day theme. I purchased mine from Spotlight. I used less than half a metre square of each.
Lace ribbon. I purchased mine from Ronis for a few dollars a roll. I used just approx 3 metres.
Coffee (optional). I wasn't able to find the right colour of aged ribbon so I dyed my own using coffee.
Gloves. You definitely need a good pair of thick gloves for handling the wire. (The cuts on my hands will vouch for this!)
Wire cutters or sharp scissors. My large scissors were adequate for cutting the wire to fit the shape of my heart shaped hanger.

Process:

Shape your hanger into a heart.

This was a job for hubby. We used the picture in this post as a visual guide.

I think he did a pretty awesome job!

Cut your wire to fit the shape of your heart.

You will want to leave about a centimetre of wire overlap all round. Then making sure you are wearing your protective gloves 😉, fold the wire around the sides of your heart to secure it.

Cut your ribbon into strips.

I measured my strips to approximately 18cms each. I used approximately 15 strips of this ribbon.

Start tying on your strips.

Thread your strips over the hanger wire and in between your wire netting. I found this easy to do and it actually helped with the spacing of the strips.

Tear your other sheets of fabric into strips.

I tried to make them approximately the same width as my fabric ribbon. I didn't measure exactly, but they are about 1 inch wide.

Decide on a rough pattern.

I decided to use more of the neutral coloured strips and less of the red strips.

Dye your lace ribbon.

I haven't done this before, but it really was very easy. I boiled the kettle, added the hot water and one spoon of instant coffee (we're simple folk 😂) to a mug. I pre cut my lace and then placed the strips into the cup for about a minute. I tried more strips in cooled coffee and it didn't take as well. I'd definitely recommend using freshly boiled.

Use a spoon to scoop your lace out of the cup and place it on a paper towel to absorb the excess water.

Continue tying on your strips until the wreath is complete and you are happy with pattern and fullness.

Half way though I ended up untying my red strips and tearing them in half and retying the thinner strips back on with a piece of lace next to each red strip. To me, this was visually more pleasing. (You can see the thinner strips on the left, compared to the right.)

My Completed Wreath

I was super happy with how my wreath turned out. And I love the way it looks hung on my vintage white shutters as a focal piece.

A Valentine's Old Book Page Bunting

Supplies:

Old book pages.
A piece of cardboard to cut into a heart shaped template.
Twine or some sort of string for hanging.
Scissors for cutting.
Hole punch.

Process:

Cut your template from the cardboard. I folded my template in half and freehand cut my heart out so that it was the same on both sides. It took a little bit of shaping to get it how I was happy with the shape.
I cut pages with words and pages without that were aged.
Pop two of the heart together and using a hole punch punch one hole through both for hanging.
Tie your hearts similarly spaced out across your twine.
Hang!

I thought mine looked best hanging on the chippy door.

Other Elements in My Display

Rusted Heart Cookie Cutters

I wish I had genuine rusty heart shaped cookie cutters but I didn't. So, I made my own faux ones!

I purchased these metal ones from Spotlight for $7.

And just like my Faux Rusty Christmas Cookie Cutters, I used my Forged Hammer spray paint in antique pewter to spray paint them.

Then I grabbed my acrylic paints and mixed up a reddish brown paint to replicate the rust. I used one of my genuinely rusted cookie cutters as a colour guide.

I think I did a pretty good job!

And they look great in my display!

A Dish of Keys and a Stone Loveheart

The little dish is a vintage pie tin. My collection of vintage keys look great in it! I wanted to touch on the them of a "key to my heart".

And hubby gave me the love heart stone a few years back. It works well in my adding some words to my display.

Vintage Bottles and Lace

I used some of the coffee dyed lace and some other lace I had in my stash to tie around these old bottles. I also added one of my vintage keys. (I could have added a message inside one of the bottles. Next time!)