Valentine's Day Bunting: Crochet!

Valentine's day was never my favorite holiday. Sure, as a kid, it's great to pass out valentine cards and any holiday that produced free candy was always welcome, but as an adult I never got into the "let's buy expensive gifts for one another" idea and over time my cynical views of consumerism and sappy Halmark commercials embedded itself so deeply that up till now as I tried to be a fun, creative mom to three kids, I shied away from the so called "holiday."

This year, however, my old calloused heart is softening to the spirit of Valentine's day. With the help of Pinterest I have found not only cute, reasonable priced (aka free) things to do around this heart-filled holiday, but also realized just how special it is when someone intentionally writes down, in their own hand, how special you are to them. I saw this great idea to have each member of your family hand write a "Valentine" to each other member of the family. Not just to sign your name on a preprinted "BE MINE" Valentine card, but actually take the time to think of the person, what they like about them, and then write it down in your own script. My kids need this. In a time when they are coming up against many hard decisions and difficult people, they need to know that their family, their brother and sister, their mom and dad think they are a wonderful and important part of their family.

With this on my heart, I thought some small decorations in the realm of hearts would be appropriate to set the mood.  But I couldn't just do any ol' heart thing. It had to be unique. I tried to do pink and red and white...but this just made me sit back and sigh. It just wasn't the look I wanted. If I was going to put forth effort in this endeavor, I was going to LIKE the color scheme. Here's what I came up with (thanks to Pinterest helping me discover this fun pattern from Julia Crossland):

mmmmmm....red & teal!

Lots of HEARTS!

Bunting Love

YAY! I'm beginning to like Valentine's Day!

I had such fun crocheting these as I watched our recorded Australian Open match between Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer (although it was hard to see Rog continue to hit it into the net!! ARG!). As I said, I tried to do pink and red and white, but I just needed my red and teal combo so I broke from the Valentine norm and made it my own. If you see the cute "LOVE IS" print from I Corinthians, you should head on over here to grab the free printable. 

I hope your hearts are softened to Valentine's Day as mine has been! And if you need a little softening, grab some soft yarn in your favorite colors and make a heart garland of your very own this year - it'll be sure to help!