Love Archives - Yearning to Create

Love/Home/Joy Blocks

I made these LOVE blocks a few years ago, but I only unpacked them last week – just in time for Valentine’s Day! They’d been boxed up for almost two years as we lived in transition while building our new home. I was serving in Relief Society at the time and we actually ended up making these at our RS Super Saturday.

They’re very easy – the hardest part was choosing the paper (it always is!). My blocks are 3 1/2″ squares, but you can make them any size you want. Once you have your blocks, paint or stain them if you desire. Then it’s simply mod podging the paper on, and then the letters and words, and adding any embellishments. I don’t have any fancy machines to cut out letters for me, so I simply printed letters from the computer and cut them out – yup, by hand, with an exacto knife!

“Where love is, there God is also.”

Because they’re blocks, they stack nicely lots of different ways, depending on what works best in your space.

On the other side of my LOVE blocks are . . .

. . . my HOME blocks.
It’s so nice to be able to easily reverse something when it’s time for a new look!

“Where they love you most.”

Okay – I look at these now and cringe! I’ve gotten so much better at mod podging now – I never get bumps and bulges like that any more. Just might need to redo these (although they look worse here than in real life – must be the flash!). I used way too much mod podge for thin paper, and probably didn’t wait for it to dry completely between layers. And now I love the finished look you get when you press a piece of fabric over your top layer of wet mod podge and immediately pull if off again. Makes it look rather like canvas!

I also made a set of JOY blocks.

“Find Joy in the journey.”

I have Joy decorations for Christmas, but I wanted something that could be out year round to remind me about JOY. I painted these blocks black before adding the paper – matches the letters nicely.

The paper was fancy enough that I didn’t think it needed any other embellishments.

And I know you’re wondering about that fabulous background – it’s the black paper and wire mesh that will someday be hidden inside our beautiful stone fireplace!

Valentine Decorating

I love to decorate for the seasons and holidays, but I don’t do too much (compared to some people!) simply because I don’t have a quonset in my back yard to store it all in when it’s not on display.

LOVE is the TIE that {BINDS} this FAMILY TOGETHER

is my newest Valentine decor item – and I love it!!! I got it from Lazy Daizy Vinyl Lettering.

It’s still the middle of winter so I like to keep those little bits of evergreen, pine cones and berries around for filler. The pine cones came from the forests in my backyard where I grew up so they’re extra dear to me. They have sparkly silver edges because we painted the edges for my sisters wedding. I put the pine cones in her bouquet – check it out here.

On the after Christmas clearance racks I got this evergreen wreath for $0.94.

I haven’t done anything with it yet – it just hangs around looking wintery, but I made it a little more Valentinesyish by adding one of my kids hearts – they made these a few years back at Shauna’s kids craft class.

Ahh! There is my new wicker vase – you can read about it here.

Those LOVE blocks are pretty cool because on the back of the L is an H, and on the back of the V is an M. So if you get tired of LOVE, you can make it say . . . (did ya figure it out?). That was another one of Shauna’s creations from a few years ago.

These message blocks are new this year too. You can read about them here.

And I know I have a few more things too, but they’re still in boxes – not out in a quonset, but in my unfinished family room, waiting to someday have a home!!!

I think a holiday to remember the people we love is such a great idea!

Easy Valentine Idea

Need an easy but fun Valentine idea for your special someone? Well, keep reading . . .

My guy enjoys these little red cinnamon hearts. I find that they burn my tongue and my kids say they’re too ‘spicy’!

But he loves them and so I did this for him for Valentine’s Day. I got the idea from somewhere, but the poem is my own creation. (I’ve typed it out after this picture so it’s easier to read.)