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Ideas for Valentines Day: Decorate Your Mantle On a Budget

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Looking for original, even super affordable ideas for Valentines Day? We have a step-by-step tutorial to help you turn your mantle into a Valentine’s Day celebration without having to break into your piggy bank.

Turn your mantle into a Valentine's Day celebration without breaking into your piggy bank. These budget-friendly decorating ideas will inspire you to add a little extra love to your home.

Decorate Your Mantle (On A Budget) for Valentine’s Day

This year, after the yards and yards of Christmas greenery and glitter had been rolled out of sight, my mantle seemed bare and cold, depressed even. And after a long 20 days of looking at my bare and sad mantle, I made a decision that this would be the year I would totally embrace Valentine’s Day!

But, I never like spending lots of money on things I can make for myself!

Could I decorate my mantle on the cheap?

ideas for valentines day

ideas for valentines day

First, I had an empty white vase that beckoned for some Valentine spunk. I bought 2 pieces of felt—one pink and one red, some white embroidery floss, and I used some kitchen skewers that I had on hand to make a heart bouquet.

ideas for valentines day

ideas for valentines day

First, I cut two matching hearts out of the felt and stitched them together using the white embroidery floss– making sure that I left a bit of space for the stuffing! Then after stuffing, inserting a skewer, and stitching up the end. It was simple! It was cheap! (less than $1 total!) And most importantly, it was adorable!

ideas for valentines day

Make A Book Page Banner

Next, I decided to craft a banner using an old book & some bias tape!

ideas for valentines day

First, you must find an old book. Thrift shops, garage sales, and library book sales are a good place to find a cheap, old book. Before buying a book, take a look at the pages inside. Your book pages should be sturdy enough to withstand a run through a sewing machine, so don’t use a book with water damage, mold, or paper that is too delicate.

To remove the pages, carefully peel the book back at the spine and wiggle the pages loose. Rip the pages as close as you can to the spine, use care and take your time! If you don’t like the look of the ripped edges you could easily use a utility knife or razor blade to remove pages from your book.

ideas for valentines day

Pick a font on your computer that is chunky, and would show up against the type on your book pages. Size the font appropriately, and print a test run of the first letter of the word you are using for your banner. For example, my banner spells out the word VALENTINE, so I printed out a V. Check if the size is too big or too small. You can do this by holding both the paper and the book page up to a bright light or window and checking the size. If it’s not quite right, resize and reprint.

Once you have your font size perfected, tape your book page onto your paper using painters tape. The painters tape is just sticky enough to hold your book page in place, and not too sticky to do too much damage when you are removing it. Run your paper through the printer again, and voila! The first page of your banner is complete!

ideas for valentines day

After you have printed out all of your book pages, it’s time to get out your sewing machine!

ideas for valentines day

(Yes… my sewing machine is ancient! But, I love it!)

Position the first book page between the two layers of bias tape, leaving enough slack at the end to properly tie up the edges to your mantle. Using your machine, stitch over the bias tape and book page, making sure you keep the layers together and the stitches straight. Before your sewing machine reaches the end of the book page, get the next page ready. Leave a small gap between each letter. Continue on until all of your pages have been sewn together!

ideas for valentines day

ideas for valentines day

If you like, at the end, you can cut the bottoms of the book pages. I chose a dovetail design, but you could also leave them as they are.

ideas for valentines day

I also tied some red and white striped fabric strips on the sides to jazz it up a bit, you could add strips of lace, felt, ribbons, or even add glitter! The possibilities are endless. The best part is, the whole banner cost me less than $1.50 to make!

ideas for valentines day

To finish my mantle, I covered some old mason jars I had on hand in the same book paper with a heart cutout for use as candle holders. (They cast such an inviting glow!) I also walked around my house and pulled décor that had red in it for use through Valentine’s Day. Filling my large apothecary jar with candy hearts was the most expensive part of my mantle transformation! Now, I am faced with the challenge of trying to keep my kids (and my husband’s) hands out of that jar!

Who knew that with a few bucks, a little time, and redistribution of a few items around my home—I could have the Valentine’s Day mantle of my dreams?! I really do love it.

Is your mantle begging for a little Valentine excitement? Dress it up!

Looking for more ideas for Valentines Day?

From snacks to crafts, here are 5 easy things you can make for Valentine's Day.

These cookies look fancy, but they are really simple to make when you use the recipe for the perfect sugar cookies for cutouts.

About Tracie Nall

Tracie lives in Arizona with her husband, teen daughter, and more books than her shelves will hold. She spends her days writing and editing. Many of her words end up on her blog, From Tracie. Find Tracie on Twitter @FromTracie and on Instagram where she takes pictures of things that are yellow.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  9. Vinma says

    wow..this is lovely and sound so affordable 🙂 Thank you for this. I will definitely think of doing some decorations on my mantle this Valentines Day 🙂

  13. Wombat Central says

    I was thinking about how I could decorate for Valentine’s Day, and this is perfect! My daughter loves to sew things by hand, so I’ll have her do the hearts. Thanks for the great ideas! Are you for hire? My whole house needs decorating help! 😉

  14. Charlotte says

    Such cute ideas! I love the felt hearts in particular. What a great way to spruce up the mantle. I wish I had one here, but there’s always a kitchen table that could use a few flowers 🙂 XOXO

    • Emily Louise says

      You could decorate nearly anything for Valentines day! Headboard, door, entertainment center, front doorway, window, desk, possibilities are endless!

  20. Lisa H says

    Aw, I love your ideas! I made a little garland out of scrap fabrics in red and pink and was so pleased that it didn’t cost anything. Your little puffy heart bouquet is adorable!

  21. Emma says

    That’s a really cool idea. I’m going to try and make the Valentine banner for my boy 🙂 Thanks for sharing.