Seasons > Valentine’s Day > Home Decorations > Kitchen

This wire key holder is an attractive way to display different kinds of hearts. Since you are not likely to find one just like this one, be on the lookout for other decorative hooks. Or, make your own--for example, if you find a pretty wooden box or plaque, simply screw cup hooks in the bottom to hang hearts from. It won’t look like this, but it will be just as pretty.

The hearts pictured here, from left to right, are: a brass lock and key (symbolizing the phrase “You have the key to my heart”), a tassel, 2 home made clay hearts, 2 small glass hearts (stem ware decorations that help guests know which goblet is theirs,) and a clear plastic heart with a pressed flower inside (a key chain.) The two large hearts are hand made from a light weight clay such as Hearty (Karui Kaminendo. ) The small one was cut out with a cookie cutter and decorated with an embellishment from a sewing store. The large heart was pressed into a decorative cookie mold. Once dried, it was painted and decorated with a bead strand, netting, and ribbon rose and bow...this was actually my daughter’s hair clip from when she was a toddler!

The frame below the wire rack has spaces for 9 photos, but instead, I alternated heart stickers with photos of our family--the people we love. If you can’t find heart stickers at a dollar store (hundred yen store) or craft store near you, make your own with scraps of paper or fabric, lace, buttons, bows, and beads. Most craft stores have all kinds of special papers, stickers, scissors, etc. in the scrapbooking section.

These heart shaped baskets are made from lengths of cane for basket weaving that is available at craft stores. If you can’t find it, or don’t want to spend any money, cut them out of thick white paper such as white poster board (sold at dollar stores.) Cut 6 strips for each heart. If using basket cane, form them into the baskets, and hold them in place with clothespins. Soak in water over night and let dry. Glue with a glue gun. If you skip the soaking step, they tend to straighten and come apart. If you are making paper hearts, skip the soaking, and simply glue together as shown bellow.

This bay window allows room to set up a cute vignette with two teddy bears and lots of hearts. The table, chairs, dish set and teapot were all purchased at 100 yen stores. The picket fence was bought at 100 a yen store, too, as a decoration to cover a small pot for a house plant. I removed some of the hinges so it could be stretched out, and added lots of painted wooden hearts to look like a flower garden.  It wouldn’t be too hard to make your own picket fence with wood or popsicle sticks and hinges purchased at dollar stores or Walmart (100 yen stores). Plain wooden hearts and leaf shapes are sold at craft stores.

Here is an another arrangement that can fit on a window sill.  It is also made with dollar store (hundred yen store) items. Candles, mugs, and vases are often available with a heart motif, or in valentine colors (red, pink, and white.) I really liked the pillar candle sets sold at some hundred yen stores. Since I already had pillar candles, I imitated the ones in the store and made small hearts from a light weight clay such as Hearty (Kaui Kaminendo) Once they were dry, I pushed florist’s wire into the hearts and twisted them together to form a ring at the bottom of each candle. Paint them with varnish to make them shine. A nick-nack shelf is a good way to add height to a group of small decorations.

I especially like the figurine of the old lady and man sitting on the park bench feeding the ducks. My husband and I joke about how that’s what we will be like when we get old, because we know that that we will still enjoy each other’s company, even when we are too old to do anything but feed the ducks.

You don’t have to have a lot of space to decorate an area. Here are two variations combing the two inch ledge on the top of my oven, and the wall space above it. The arrangement on the left has a heart shaped vine wreath with a painted wooden heart hanging in the middle. The wooden hearts on stands were all red when I bought them, but I painted some of them pink and white. All these items were all purchased at 100 yen stores. The wreath on the right doesn’t have any hearts, but the standing decoration has so many hearts that it doesn’t need any. The standing decoration was purchased at an American craft store, but it wouldn’t be too hard to make out of wood, or light weight clay such as hearty (Karui Kaminendo) or even cardboard that has been covered with brown paper ( from paper bags) and painted. Many hundred yen stores sell hinges, which are key to making this decoration stand up.

Magnets for the refrigerator are a quick and easy way to add seasonal flair to the kitchen. These were purchased at an American dollar store, but home made variations can be made in so many different ways--cut them from pink and red sheet magnets and use as is, or embellish them with heart stickers. Or cut hearts out of different colors and thicknesses of EVA foam, and glue them together in layers, and glue magnets to the back. Or use cookie cutters to cut out hearts from a light weight modeling compound such as Hearty (Karui Kaminendo) and glue magnets to the back once they are dry. Or use the modeling compound to make faux chocolates to decorate your refrigerator.

Seasons > Valentine’s Day > Home Decorations > Kitchen

These heart bouquets are made from a light weight clay  (Karui Kaminendo.) and cut with heart shaped cookie cutters (sold at dollar stores /hundred yen stores.) After the hearts dry, poke florist’s wire through them for stems. To add a decorative shape to the ends of the wires, wrap the end of each wire around the pointy end of a pencil, then remove the pencil--the wire ends in a very satisfying curly-cue. To make a base for the bouquet, cut another heart out of a heavier clay, such as natural clay (kaminendo.) Press the ends of the wire stems into the still wet clay heart base, and let dry. Another way to make a base would be place the heart bouquet in a vase.

If you work with wood, the hearts could be cut from wood, or purchase wooden hearts at craft stores. Glue the hearts to wires--in this case, it may be good to glue a heart to the front and back of each side of the wire. Then insert all the wire stems into a wooden block that has a small hole drilled into the top. Glue in place.

Windows can be places to decorate, too, especially if they are frosted. Here are two different ways to decorate windows that won’t block the light from coming in: on the left are hand made heart shaped baskets embellished with bows. On the right are heart bouquets made out of clay.

All the items in this photo, including the frame, were purchased at hundred yen stores. People often ask me what store I go to, but I think it is more how I look than where I shop.  Look for hearts in dollar stores (hundred yen stores) in various sections, not just the seasonal area that sells valentine items: look in the jewelry and hair accessories sections for heart shaped necklaces, earrings, and key chains. Look in the office supplies section for heart shaped stickers, post-it-notes, or cards as well as photo stands. Look in the sewing section for ribbons, lace, and buttons. Look in the gift wrap section for heart shaped boxes or gift wrap with hearts. Look in the cooking section for heart shaped cookie cutters. These can be used as decorations, or they can be used to make decorations (as explained above.) Look in the home decorating section for heart shaped baskets, wreaths, fake roses or heart shaped floating candles or candle stands.