It’s Valentine’s week! We typically keep Valentine’s Day pretty low-key at the Conrad house. Kevin is usually working, and this year is no exception. I’ve never decorated for Valentine’s Day before and this year I decided that was going to change. By that, I mean I added some valentine-ish decorations to my mantle. It turned out to be a pretty good excuse to sneak some pink into the house. The husband can’t even complain too much since it’s not permanent.

Kevin’s parents have been clearing out their home and some of their belongings have been migrating to each of their kid’s homes. On one of their trips to come see us, they delivered a bunch of dishes that Kevin’s grandmother had collected. It was all the most beautiful pastel green and pink! I did a little research and it turns out it is most likely depression glass. I love that it has a fun history and that members of Kevin’s family lovingly collected it over the years. What better time to display pink dishes than the month of love?

Having a mantle is probably one of my favorite things about this house. (And while I love the fireplace too, I am less in love with the brown tile surround. That’s a project for another day however.) I can decorate a small area, very simply, and feel like my whole house is celebrating. I’m going to say that I’m just keeping things simple. It definitely has nothing to do with my extreme levels of laziness and the fact that it’s super annoying to have to lug out boxes and boxes of decorations only to put them away a few weeks later.

You may remember my love of signs for each season. I decided it was time for a new one! Is anyone out there a fan of the show Parks and Recreation? I always loved the line, “I love you and I like you.” It seems the perfect sentiment for this time of year. I pulled a design together in illustrator as usual and printed it off. Then, I used my Daylight wafer light box to transfer the design to my watercolor paper and got to painting. I ended up tracing around the words with a red watercolor pencil to make them stand out a bit more and I love the way the sign turned out! If you want a sign for yourself, go ahead and grab the free printable from the website. I included a 4″ x 6″ version as well as two different square versions!

I still felt like something was missing though. None of my decorations were really specific to Valentine’s Day. Ever since we made our gnomes after Pinner’s conference last year I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a cat version. This seemed like the perfect opportunity! Why not combine my existing love of cats, with my new love of gnomes to celebrate a holiday all about love?! Thus, the valentine cat gnome was born! It’s actually pretty easy, and you can make it with scraps of fabric you may already have laying around the house. You still have plenty of time to make one of these little guys before Thursday! It is sure to bring a smile to your face every time you see it and there’s no reason it has to be put away after Valentine’s Day. Mine will definitely be hanging out long after the holiday has passed.