Valentine Mantle

The time has come to change the old mantle from winter to Valentine's.  Here's what the mantle looks like after Christmas:

The hurricanes are there year-round.  I got them at Michael's several years ago and I change them for each season.  In winter they are full of fake snow, because that's the closest we're going to get to snow here in Central Texas!!  The little wooden Let it Snow and wooden snowflake ornament are after Christmas bargains from Target several years ago.  The wreath is from IKEA and is hanging from a thin piece of brown grosgrain ribbon. It's also up year-round and the mirror will need to be a topic of another post - I made it myself and I am quite proud of it!  The pictures of the girls are perfect for my winter mantle because they are printed were treated with a "retro" action and have a faded blue sort of finish.  I LOVE this look, and am expecting new pictures of them from our photo shoot right after Christmas any day now.

So on to Valentine's.....

The glass vase is one that came from a floral arrangement - you know those vases we all have lurking around.  It's full of some heart shaped ornaments that were part of a set I got at IKEA for Christmas.  You'll see in December the rest of that set in the hurricanes, but I pulled the hearts out and just use them for Valentine's Day.  Some are shiny and some are matte and I LOVE them.  I hung one of each finish from thin, satin ribbon from the tops of the hurricanes too - the snow is still there, because, once again, this is the only snow we'll see, so we make it last!!  Here's a close up of the left side with the hearts in the vase:

And on the right is a framed "love one another" print that you can download for FREE from Becky Higgins website here. I have it in a frame from IKEA (how lucky am I that my IKEA is about 5 miles away?!?) The glass with the candle was a gift from a friend.

 And those sweet vintage Valentine's on the mirror I bought on ebay about a week ago for $6.50 including shipping.  They are so cute!  My idea was that they were supposed to look tucked in the frame of the mirror, but the way it's constructed, you can't tuck anything in.  I am not totally happy with that part - any suggestions?! I have thought about draping a ribbon across the mantle and using small clothespins to hang them, but I'm not sure I can find the clothespins right now.... I used them in Baby A's nursery, which I'll share later, and haven't seen them since then....

You can see in the top photo in the reflection of the mirror, that the girls' pictures have moved to the other side of the room.  I have a second, antique mantle on the opposite wall that I need to share, but I don't love it right now.  The girls will make their return to the fireplace mantle after Valentine's Day. Stay tuned for March when I redo the mantle for Spring....

Linking up to The Stories of A to Z today for the Valentine's Mantle Linky!!