DIY Valentine's Day Mantel with FREE Printable

OLD WINDOW + ENGINEER PRINT + BURLAP = GORGEOUSNESS

It’s National Heart Month! I hope all of your hearts are doing fabulously. When I worked as a dietitian {you know, when I was using my college education and getting paid in dollars instead of changing diapers and getting paid in kisses 😉 } National Heart Month had a whole different meaning to me. The bulletin boards in my office were full of articles about heart healthy fats, how to increase one’s antioxidant intake, and proper cardiovascular exercise to maintain heart health. Now my Februaries are full of a different kind of heart – the glittery kind. {Seriously, the stuff is everywhere.} Our house is overflowing with shiny red Valentines, heart-shaped sandwiches, and sticky hugs. I. love. it. In preparation for Valentine’s Day day, it was time to get a little festive in the Mountain house! We have an awesome fireplace in our new place and its mantel needed a little lovin’.

I knew I wanted to use this amazing old window frame from my grandparents’ house. It had been collecting dust in their barn since the house widows were replaced in 19-whoknowswhen. Needless to say, it was a bit grimey.

Nothing a little Meyer’s Cleaner can’t fix. Love this stuff!

Boom. From grimey to gorgeous! After I had cleaned it and made sure none of my kids ate the {probably lead-based} paint chips that scraped off, it was time to figure out what to do with it. Man, I love the old school weathered-ness of it.

I also love this verse Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 13:13 {NIV} “These three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” If you’ve read the “Meet the Mountains” section of my blog, you’ll see how strongly I feel about love and its role in our life. It seemed only fitting to use this verse to celebrate Valentine’s Day in our house. Off to PicMonkey.com I went to create this:

You can find it below in FREE printable fashion. The window frame is 28×32 so I needed a pretty big piece of art to fill it. Thanks to my sister’s editing super powers she was able to take my 11×14 document and make it 18×24 {AKA: honkin’ big}. Next I sent the 18×24 version to our local office supply store and asked for an engineer print which is an inexpensive way to print large black & white documents. They also trimmed the sides for me after it was printed. It cost a whopping $2.50! Woot! Love me a good bargain.

But the Greatest of These is Love 11×14

But the Greatest of These is Love 18×24

Now to get it into the window frame. I was going for a “floating look”. Short of getting another big piece of glass to put behind the print, I wasn’t sure what to do. I decided using tape was my best option so I tacked down each corner and a bit on the sides with tiny pieces of clear tape. Voila!

I love the way the old frame and chalkboard-like print brings out a rustic simplicity.

But I wasn’t done yet! You can see I added a little heart shaped banner made of burlap and baker’s twine {tutorial on how to make that coming soon!}. Along came some winter berries I’ve had hanging around since Christmas, a few other goodies, and here you have it – a simple, natural, DIY Valentine’s Day mantel.

Because I was lucky enough to score the window from my grandparents’ barn, the whole window project cost about $4. Can’t beat that! If you’re in the market for a window I recommend checking out this post from Mother Nature Network for some budget friendly ideas.