I'm starting to get excited for Valentine's Day. What better way to share your love than to decorate and do fun craft projects?

This week I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest and checking out links from my favorite link parties. I think I've put together a pretty good list of Valentine's Day decorating and craft projects that are doable and reasonably cheap. These projects are already providing me with a ton of inspiration for my upcoming Valentine's Day mantel!

Share the Valentine's Day love by visiting each of these sites to check out their complete projects!

Felt Valentine's Day Wreath from Classy Clutter
This is a beautiful wreath and I love the red and pink felt together. This post gives a great, detailed tutorial for making the wreath. I'm excited to try it out to bring some bright color to my front door.

Classy Clutter

DIY Valentine's Art from Sew Fantastic
I think this art is adorable. It looks so simple to make and fits into my soft spot for paper-based projects. I *may* have treated myself to a heart bunch this morning so I could make this project over the weekend!

Sew Fantastic

Kid's Valentine's Day Art from Pinkie for Pink
I love kid's art work way more than I ever expected before I was a Mom. I even remember arguing with friends back in the day about how kid's art wasn't a "real" gift. Luckily, I've learned better since those days! These projects are great because even though they are "kid art," they can still fit into an adult-decorated home.

Pinkie for Pink

Pinkie for Pink

Cupcake Liner Wreath from Create. Craft. Love.
I love how creative people are with wreaths these days. This wreath made of cupcake liners is gorgeous. It truly takes the cake! (Sorry--I couldn't stop myself from using that pun.) :)

Create.Craft.Love.

Valentine's Day Mantel from Sunny Side Up
This is one of my favorite Valentine's Day mantels that I've come across on Pinterest. I love how she combines the black and red on her mantel. I also think the red wreath is really cute and I love the heart garland. I'm thinking about working both items into my Valentine's Day mantel.

Sunny Side Up

Footprint Art from Fun Handprint Art
I think this footprint art would make an adorable Valentine for the grandparents. There are a ton of neat handprint and footprint projects on this site. I am going to need to work through a bunch of these. Gotta take advantage of little hands and feet!

Fun Handprint Art

Valentine's Day Countdown from A Pumpkin & A Princess
My son enjoyed our Christmas advent calendar and I think he'd get a kick out of a countdown to Valentine's Day. This is such an attractive project, with great photography. I'm kicking around doing something like this for my son this year.

A Pumpkin & A Princess

Valentine Cake Pops from Pint Sized Baker
I haven't tried to make cake pops yet, but this post may have finally inspire me to make a batch. I love the Valentine's theme for them and they look delicious.

Pint Sized Baker

Handmade Valentines from Ginger Snap Crafts
This tutorial to make a Valentine mailbox is great. I may try this one in the next few weeks. I think my son would get a kick out of us leaving him Valentines in the mailbox. There are also some great valentines ideas on this site.

Ginger Snap Crafts

14 Acts of Love from Make and Takes
This is a great idea. She includes a tutorial and free printables for these hearts. Then you put the 14 acts of love on the back of the hearts. It's such a sweet idea and seems like it would be great for a kindergartner.

Make and Takes

Thanks so much to all of the bloggers who let me feature their projects in this post. I'm blown away by all of the creativity on each of your blogs. You've given me so much inspiration for my Valentine's crafts and decorations!

Please contact me if you'd like to be featured in an upcoming "Friday I'm in Love Post."

Check out more of my Valentine's Day pics on Pinterest.

My inspiration for today's art project came from Pier 1. I've been swooning over tree art for the last few months. I love both of the below pictures for different reasons. I love the softness and muted colors of the picture on the left. However, it retails for $299.95, which is way outside my current decorating budget.

The second picture is also lovely. It is vibrant, happy, and within my budget ($29.95). However, it was pretty big when I saw it in the store. Also, the background colors came in blue or orange--neither of which really blends into our neutral-colored home.

Pier 1 Blue Happy Tree--$29.95.

Pier 1 Wishing Tree--sold for $299.95.

I decided to make my own tree art based on these two pictures. It was a simple project--the whole thing took about an hour and I was able to make it using all supplies I have on hand. Plus, I was able to use some of my favorite scrapbook papers to make something custom for my home. I'm happy with the results and I think my picture is a nice alternative to the Pier 1 pictures--until I can save up for the more expensive picture. :)

Materials and supplies
- Canvas (8x10)
- Scrapbook paper in various patterns
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Hole punch (I used 1 & 3/8" punch)
- Craft paint
- 2 foam brushes



How to make this picture

1. Paint the canvas with craft paint. I applied one coat of a light yellow craft paint, using a foam brush. I just squirted the paint right onto the foam brush. It seemed to work fine and it stayed nice and neat.


2. Wait for the paint to dry. It was still slightly tacky when I moved on to step 3.

 
4. Cut out the "leaves." I went with a round hole punch. You could also cut a traditional leave shape, if you want that look. This site has a good tutorial for cutting uniform leaves. It's Doable.


5. Start laying out the leaves. Don't attach them until you have a sense for the layout that you'll want.

My little guy is OBSESSED with cars. One morning a few weeks ago, he tried to make his own garage using dominos. That got my husband and I thinking that we should make him a garage.

This was a fun project that used materials we had around the house. It took about 2-3 hours, but was pretty easy to make.



Supplies:
- Cardboard box
- Empty paper towel roll
- Duct tape (black)
- Packing tape
- Scissors
- Knife
- Pencil
- Black marker


How to:
1. Start with a large cardboard box.
2. Cut the top pieces off the box. Use packing tape to reinforce the box, as necessary.





3. Cut two holes in the front of the box. These will be the garage doors.




4. Make the second story for the garage. Cut a strip of cardboard about 1/3 the size of the box. Cut the paper towel role in three equal pieces. Tape it to the cardboard strip.




5.  Attach the second story of the garage to the floor of the box using duct tape.



6. Add a ramp for cars to get up to the second floor. Cut a strip from the cardboard and attach it with the duct tape.


7. Draw in the parking spaces. We put ours about two inches apart.



8.  Add a small lip to the top of the second floor of the garage to keep the cars from rolling off. Cut another small strip of cardboard and attach it with duct tape.

9. Paint or tape the garage with duct tape.





9. Add any "decorations" that you want. We added a garage and a parking sign. We also let our son color a few cardboard signs to hang around the outside of the garage.

10. Add the cars and enjoy!