Printable Instagram Valentines

Dawnelle and I have had a lot of fun making hearts for #homevesturesvalentines on instagram along with family and many of you, and 24 hearts have been featured! Wow! nothing like sharing and feeling the love! We ended up with 40 different hearts and you can go to @homevestures on instagram, #homevesturesvalentines to see the whole collection. And... as promised here is the printable ready for Valentines!

I loooove what Dawnelle did for our little 'polaroid' snapshots and that groovy little envelope from decor magazines. I'm feeling like she should make a boat load of those envelopes, bundle and sell them in her fantastic etsy shop..., you know for people like me...who would love to have them already cut out.

So... you have THAT goodness going on, and here I'm offering another fun idea for these little cuties! Right, garland! I know...just think you'll never have to leave the house. Just print these off, cut them out and attach to remnants of trim or strips or ripped fabric (that would be fun too). I used old post earrings to attach mine. Of course the possibilities are endless with making garlands, you could go vertical or horizontal. And you could sew the cards on, staple, use brads, what else... I'm sure you'll come up with something.

Whether you use these or create your own...let the charm and 'out of the box' approach to these homemade instagram Valentines not only be your little token of love but your personal 'lovestory' from home.


Vicki

12 Valentines are here and the other 12 on Just Dawnelle

Furnace of Love

It really all started here...I mean the whole idea of 'furnace of love'. Last year it occurred to me that love is much like a wood burning furnace.  I know not too romantic huh. But here's the truth. If you don't feed it everyday the fire starts going out and the warmth that is produced leaves you running for a sweater. What's worse is that if it goes out or almost goes out it takes hours to get it burning again and lots of tending and effort.

Occasionally I do get stuck with loading this beast when my husband is traveling. Let me tell you it is far from glamorous. First off can you see the smoke in the air? Right, well that smoke permeates every fiber of clothing and EVERY hair on your body, along with a nice coating on any exposed skin and has you smelling in a twink. Not to mention you run a very high risk of losing your eyelashes and eyebrows in the process. Are we feeling the love...? Ahhh....NO! But a remarkable profound revelation came from a very ordinary basic and primitive chore...

I realized that love takes work, daily, and often times we get singed and burned. In order to keep it burning we have to keep going back to the task. Sometimes we might prefer a low grade fire and settle for an extra sweater instead of nice warmth that blows from a primed furnace. Interestingly this beast heats our whole house and water too. So everyone benefits from this raging fire...get the point?

This year I had an idea to start making random hearts and instagraming them just for the fun of it and honestly to see if I could start a little love 'heatwave' and have a fusion of ideas come together. My first heart started here at the 'furnace of love'!

 

 

'Your love is like a fire...my one burning desire Valentine!'

I added a filter on 'befunky'

Did my two boys have a great time making this Valentine!

'You dropped the bomb on me baby!'

'With every piece of my heart'

 

'Come on baby light my fire'

 

'I'm losing my marbles over you Valentine'

 

 

'I spy you Valentine'

This assortment was found in my two couches one day...I know embarrassing!

 

'We're on a roll Valentine'

'Your tearing up my heart when I'm with you...'

And this one was inspired on a morning when we were running out of this precious commodity.

 

'Your voice is music to my ears!'

 

'we definitely go together valentine'

 

So here's a fun way to keep the love and fire burning in your family by making your own original memory making Valentines. Or if you want you can visit here on Feb 1 and justdawnelle.blogspot.com, she's my oldest daughter and has a super fun blog, and download 24 printable Valentines. We would love it if you would make a heart and hashtag #homevesturesvalentines to join us our friends and family on instagram @stechev or @homevestures or @dawnellesarlo and be a part of the fun!

 

vicki

 

 

 

 

 

Cadilac Pin Cushions

I have to call them 'Cadilac Pin Cushions'...I mean look at them...can't you see yourself working on your little sewing project with this piece of work to put your pins in? Not only that, but it's like a little tabletop accent piece, curious and tactile. I like them. There are some areas that could be perfected. And I might get to it...but in the mean time...here it is! Enjoy! Create! Beautify!





 



I used some vintage candlesticks, scraps of vintage fabric, trim and tacky glue. The tacky glue is a little harder to work with it takes more patience than hot glue but the end results are smoother. For the 'cushion' part I used old Styrofoam ornaments. I'd like to experiment with other sizes but that's what I had available. I like using stuff I have instead of making a trip to the store. Then I used that E6000 industrial strength glue in clear to cement the ball on.

So these little wonders would also be amazing for merchandising brooches! Right?!

Have a fantastic week!
Vicki
I have a super fun valentine project on instagram @homevestures mostly projects and @stechev for family and fun! Please come check it out!


 

Believe in yourself

If we think about our lives and kinda look back just a wee little bit..., we might notice things happen. We think about things that help us, we might realize there is someone bigger than us that has our backs..., or not, and 'just take the money and run!'  Now we might be down right wicked and think there is no way that celestial guidance will come to me (those are my thoughts often). But then, the angelic side of me believes as long as we breathe the breath of life, there is always divine assistance waiting in the wings.

 

 ''You got to change your evil ways baby...''. If you think about it we can and have the ability to change from moment to moment. So one moment we can be engaged in rottenness and the next moment there we are... helping an old lady with her bags... or walking her home...

Here is a metal can I made this week with a folded vintage Womans Home Journal Page and my stab at graffiti art! I used all kinds of befunky filters and have some expanded ideas I'll share later...

Sometimes my wickedness gets in the way of believing in my work, or what I'm doing, or myself. So this thought came to me...it was like a whisper, soft, and gentle...I was working on a project that I have been thinking about for at least a year, and that is as far as it got, just thinking. So Saturday I began...and that is when the thought came to me. "Believe in your work...Believe in what you do...Believe in yourself...".





Just a couple days earlier another thought came to me "what would I give up to accomplish my dream?'' I looked at these two early 1900's chairs in my room that me and my family have cherished... and thought, 'would I give those up?' Yes of course! Sometimes, because of our divine nature, we are able to see things as they really are, and as they will be. Is there risk? Yes! Is there fear? Yes! Is there uncertainty? Yes! Is there doubt? Yes! Does that mean 'forget it', throw in the towel', 'it's going to be too hard'...? I believe that when we believe in our work, and we believe in what we are doing, and we believe in ourselves, and move in that direction, we experience a feeling, enthusiasm! Passion!, excitement!, belief...


Vintage paintings I'm using for a project.

 
Here is a Collection of Vintage brooches that are inspiring ideas...

Everything we do in this life involves people...like it or not. That is the phenomenon...we choose how we will be in and around them. We choose our work, we choose what we do, and that always involves people...

 
Part of my work is seeing these cute faces off to school.

 
and having lunch with my son in Philly. Happy Birthday Christian!

Whitney Houston sang it so beautifully in the animated film "The Prince of Egypt" just believe...

...for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay... Moroni 9:6

Believe in your work...Believe in what you do...Believe in yourself...

Vicki

All photos in this post are originals and taken by me Vicki Stecher for homevestures.

 

Creation is a Collaboration

 

Sometimes getting the spiritural side of ourselves to work with the physical side ourselves calls for major intervention. So what is exciting is when we do have a idea or inspiration it actually affects us physically. Divine influence or action on a person...is one way of defining 'inspiration'.

 

'The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul..'says Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He also says "Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment' and 'one of the ways...we find a fullness of joy... and eternal happiness... is by creating things'. 

 

I also love what Brigham Young said...'Progress and improve upon everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitation, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that the angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations.

 

I'm excited about the constant opportunitiy that we have to create! This year I'm working on a line of fabric made from original artwork that me and my children have done together. We will begin a introductory roll out this spring!

 

May God Bless us all this new year as we fulfill the measure of our creation!

 

Vicki

 

 

 

The image at the top is a painting that Dawnelle did as a child, I did use filters on instagram. Dawnelle and I will be working together on the fabric project. The quote came one day while pondering and was first posted on instagram. Follow me there @homevestures to see design projects or @stechev for more personal and family stuff. Also, justdawnelle.blogspot.com for all her insights and projects. 

Sculpting 'Miss Fitt' China Plates In Hurricane Lanterns

Brigham Young said "use it up, wear it out, make due or do without". For me it was easy to embrace the first two parts...but the 'do without' part...well I confess deep down inside I am thinking really..., is that necessary? Let me find a way. So, maybe finding a way is a form of using it up, making do. By that I'm not really having to due without. It has been said that 'necessity is the mother of invention'. Therefore, maybe while in the act of 'using it up and wearing it out' we are actually in the act of inventing or creating something?

So here is my latest 'use it up, wear it out' creative invention.

Yup,that's right, stacked, cast off, miss matched china plates and undesirable cast off glass pieces, in a super sized @ikeahurricanelantern. (Did I ever mention to you that my maiden name is 'Miss Fitt'?) So... maybe it's that I really have a soft spot for things that don't fit in. (And did I ever mention to you that I have really BIG curly red hair?) I think my hair was bigger than my body growing up...yeah...insight to my inner psychic...

 

 Here's more, stacking plates in an artistic fashion is not for the unenthusiastic artist, designer, merchandiser, or attemptee. One must approach this with sculpting in mind, which could take hours. Oh... I've lost you now...Seriously, I think this project took me four hours or more to get the edges 'right' which is a relative term. And further examines my inner psychic.

 

 

The time was split for me between mocking it up outside the lantern then placing them inside...and occasionally pausing for a snicky snack and to cool the jets!

 

 

Key to my vision of this leaning tower of porcelain was interesting scallops and edges along with creating or fashioning recesses that graded in and out with smooth and fluid transitions from plate to plate.

 

 

My daughter featured 'A Little Homevestures Christmas Inspiration' on @justdawnelle.blogspot.com there you can view more photos of my home this year.

 

 

We entertained for a group of friends and added a short hurricane lantern to this scape and incorporated candlelight on the stacked towers of plates. It was stunning! 

 

Merry Christmas!

I look forward to sharing more of my ideas and inspiration this coming year!!!!

See you soon!

 

Vicki

 

 

 

 

Vanity Kins

Hello....! It's been so long. But hopefully worth the wait on this one after all it has been brewing for a year now and like Frankenstein has been brought to life. Don'tcha wanna watch that movie with your kids for Halloween. OMG! It's soooo... sad and strange.

Well without further adieu...here's what I made this week and I've got to tell you I had everyone looking and entertained by the strangeness of these beautiful models and handsome men stitched up into my 'Vanity Kins'. Ok... so you CAN do this with your children. But...it is always helpful for us as parents to give them a vision. Otherwise the whole project washes down the drain. Sounds simple, and it is, but there is some manipulating and some coordinating, and some juxtaposition to be had. So why not use this little magazine/cut-out/arrangement/decoupage project to teach some basic cohesiveness, or not cohesive skills? See... cause the eyes could eat up all the room and leave nothing left for the nose, if you want one, or a mouth.

For me to get the inspirational juices flowing I have to have a stage or space or wall. Otherwise I just kinda feel lost...here's the space I chose, it's in my foyer. Well there is a straggler bat there in the picture. We ended up with a over the head hovering branch and about 40 upside down bats. Anyway...here's.....'VANITY KINS'!

A collection of vintage jewelry that I sell in my etsy shop is displayed here to punctuate the vain.

 

Last little tid bit, see if you can find Obama's nose, and eyes. Ooooo....

 

Vicki