Natural Valentine s Day DIY Decor Simple Neutral Organic Ideas

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. If it's your first time here, then welcome. My name is Allie and in today's video I'm gonna be doing a little bit of Valentine's Day decorating here in our home. I really just keep things very subtle, very organic and neutral with a very intentional feel and I always like to keep things cozy. So today I'm gonna be showcasing two different DIY projects, one of which are these moss topiaries. Now you may have seen these topiaries. I've seen them kind of all over the internet, different versions of them. So I wanted to recreate my own because if you guys know me, you know how much I love using moss. I love, love, love using moss. I feel like it just adds such a pretty organic texture into your home decor and because it's greenery it brings in that warmth that we're all looking for in our spaces, but I also wanted to do my own terracotta pot. I found a terracotta pot on Amazon and it's this one right here and as much as I really loved it, I knew that I wanted to find a version that wasn't $47. So I decided to run out to my local Hobby Lobby, pick up a $3.50 terracotta pot and then create my own version of it by aging it myself with just a little bit of paint and a very easy technique that I'm gonna share with you today. The second DIY project I'll be sharing with you is a really pretty jute garland. This has a very natural, organic, even a little bit of a vintage type feel and I knew that it would work really beautifully in our home and then I'll be adding a few little Valentine's Day touches to different key areas in our home. Nothing overdone, just a few little things and just for fun for today's video only, I'm doing a little bit of a collab with another content creator here on YouTube. So her name is Dawn and her channel is Ginger Jar Lane and I really like Dawn. We've been friends, we met through creating on YouTube and on her channel, she tends to focus on a lot of thrifting and that vintage DIY decor. So she's got some great projects that she's gonna be showcasing today as well. So I'm gonna put the link to her video down in my description box so that after you watch my video, you can jump on over to her channel, subscribe if you aren't already and check out her DIY Valentine's Day video too. If you like videos like this, don't forget to give this one a big thumbs up, drop me a comment down below and make sure you subscribe to my channel. I've got lots more great content coming down the line including a lot of spring decor content, which I'm very excited about. So make sure that you have your notifications turned on so that you never miss a video. All right, so without further ado, let's get into the video. These are the terracotta pots that I found over at Hobby Lobby. I love the size of these, I love that they're nice and tall, they have a nice rim, so we're gonna transform them using a few different paints. I grabbed a linen color, a brown color and a green color. I have my paintbrushes, I have a plate and I'm gonna be using some baking soda to add texture and some water to water down the paint, as well as some paper towels so that I can use the technique which I'm going to share with you in just a minute. So I'm starting out with some baking soda, a little bit of that linen paint and a good amount of water so that I can get this really nice and thin. And I decided to add a little bit extra baking soda just for that added texture, so if you want more of that gritty kind of look, you can do the same. And I'm going to start by just painting on that linen color, and as you'll see I'm going to be working my way around the terracotta pot all the way till about two-thirds of the way down. So I want to give the effect of that pot that I shared with you on Amazon, where it sort of fades down into the bottom and it has that really worn, aged look. So this is the first one and now I'm going to start the second one doing the same method, bringing that linen paint about two-thirds of the way down. To make these pots look more natural, I'm taking a paper towel and I'm dipping it into the water, giving it a little bit of a squeeze and then I'm picking up a little bit more of that linen paint and just sort of patting and dabbing all around each of the pots. This helps to remove the look of any heat brush streaks so that it just looks a little more natural, a little more textured. Now that I've finished with the first layer and I let it dry, I am working with the darker color. So as you can see, I added a good amount of water to this one. And the first thing I'm doing is I'm going around the rim, just below the rim. This is what really gives it that aged feature. You want to think about the areas of the pot that would naturally collect dirt and aging. So I first went around the bottom of the rim and now I'm working my way all around the pot. I'm just sort of giving it this layer, this sheen of this worn and weathered look. And the beautiful thing about this method is that it is very forgiving. So if you get to a spot and you feel like, oh my gosh, I made it way too dark, just pick up some more water and gently dab it. You can't really mess this up, I promise. So don't worry about, you know, if I did it wrong or anything like that. Just keep adding the water and dabbing and you can sort of lighten it up to your liking. So now we're going to move on to my favorite part, which is to really give it that aged patina that comes with that look of moss over time. So I added a little bit of green paint, a little bit of brown paint, and some baking soda. And I just took my paintbrush and I started dabbing like little blotches all around the pot. And again, if you feel like, oh my gosh, the green is too bright, go back in with those darker colors like that watered-down brown color and just sort of give it a layer over that and that will help to tone down any brightness of the green. Now that I'm happy with how the pots turned out, I'm going to be working on the moss part of the berries. I'm going to be doing two of them. So I have two of my wreaths. I grabbed some sticks that I'm going to be cutting. I have some Mod Podge and some moss. I also have these floral domes. So you can use these, you can use regular floral foam, whatever you have on hand. And then I also have an assortment of rocks that I'm going to be placing on top. I have my glue gun. I have my clippers. So the first thing I'm going to do is I'm just measuring out how tall I want these topiaries to be and then I'm cutting the sticks to that size. And I'm using my glue gun to hot glue the sticks to the bottom of the wreath. Putting a layer of Mod Podge around the front of the wreath and this is what's going to hold the moss in place. It acts like glue and it dries nice and clear. So I'm working in about four sections so that I can get the moss on there before it dries. Now comes the fun part. It's time to assemble our topiaries. So I'm cutting my floral spheres in half and I'm adding them to the pot. And then I can place my topiary right inside there. And now I'm going to just fill the top of it to cover that floral sphere. So I'm using a little bit of moss and a little bit of rocks. Just to give it that natural feel. I really love using organic elements. I think that they really help calm things down and make things just feel really pretty and neutral. I decided that the best spot for these in my home was going to be on my entryway console table. So I grabbed a riser so that I can prop one of them up. And then I placed the other one directly onto the console table. And I always like to give this effect when you have the same item repeating. You just have them at two different heights. I'm adding in my selenite candle holder and then I have another little topiary tree I placed on the opposite side to balance things out. We got nowhere to be Just a slow dance with the summer heat Hold outside can't wait a few Cause right now we got nothing else to do Moving on to DIY number two. I'm going to be using air dried clay, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, a rolling pin. And I found this really cute set of these doilies that I'm going to be using to imprint a pattern on the hearts. I have my jute rope, some scissors, a little something to create a hole in the top of each of the hearts. And then I have my third heart wreath that I didn't use that came in my pack. So I'm going to be creating another one of those moss wreaths and just using it in a different way. So step one is to grab some air dried clay and just start rolling it out. And then I press the doily into the clay. I'm using a rolling pin. It also works just as well if you press it in with your hands, but it creates this beautiful pattern. Now I'm placing the cookie cutter on top so that I can have a heart-shaped piece of this air dried clay with that really pretty vintage pattern. Grabbing my straw so that I can poke a hole through the top. And now I'm setting this over to dry and I'm going to continue making these. I decided that I wanted to create eight of these and my plan is to hang the moss wreath in the center and then have four of these little vintage heart wreaths on either side. So now using the same method that I did with the topiaries, I am just going to be using my mod podge to place the moss on top of the heart wreath. Now it's the next day and I've given my air dried clay hearts 24 hours to dry. So it's time for me to attach them to the garland. So you're going to grab that jute rope and this is really up to you deciding how far apart you want the hearts to sit. So I went and I did I would say about three inches between each of the hearts. Of course, I have Nico there just waiting and watching. He thinks that the string is for him. But what I did was I strung four of them and then I added the string to one of the sides of that moss heart. And then I'm going to continue on the other side by fastening another string and then going four hearts out to that side. I hung my garland on our mantle simply using two command hooks. And then I just went in and I turned some of the hearts in case some of them got turned around. They're pretty easy to flip around. So I just went in and made sure that that beautiful pattern was facing out. And then I wanted to share with you that I did have to adjust the placement of where I secured that jute rope to get the heart to hang evenly. I'm adding in a few more Valentine's Day touches around the home, but again keeping with that natural organic feel. So I picked this batch up from HomeGoods. They are these dried pods and to me they really look like they are shaped like hearts. My husband feels like they're shaped like oysters, but I figured for Valentine's Day, even if you don't get the heart effect they just are really natural, beautiful bowl filler. So I added some moss to this really pretty bowl. My husband got me this bowl for Christmas and I've been waiting for the perfect setup to style it and this was it. I added in a nice candle and then I picked up this set of three fish howls from HomeGoods. They're Isaac Mizrahi and I think that they just add a really pretty texture. I love that they're black and white. Heading over to our coffee table in our living room. Again, this is all about little subtle touches that feel very natural. So this is a heart-shaped tic-tac-toe set. I picked this up from HomeGoods last year. So I like to bring little pieces like this out onto the coffee table that just encourage gathering and interaction. I did decide to swap it with my travertine tray. I felt like it fit better over to the right there. Yeah The last thing I wanted to do was to add a little subtle touch to our front door wreath. So I'm not changing out my winter wreath. I'm just going to overlay one of these heart-shaped wreaths over the top of it and I really like this beaded one. I feel like it just gives a really natural nod to Valentine's Day. That's it for today. I hope that you enjoyed this video. I hope that you really liked the projects that I shared and I hope that it inspires you to maybe create something for Valentine's Day this year. Just a little corner of your home even just to add in that festive seasonal touch while keeping things neutral and organic. And if you did like this video, don't forget to give it a big thumbs up. It's a free way to support my channel and I really appreciate it. Drop me a comment down below. Let me know if you liked one of these projects best and which one that was and if you decorate for Valentine's Day. This will be my only Valentine's Day focused video, but I do have a lot more spring content coming down the line. I hope you all stayed safe also with this storm that just passed. I know here in the Carolinas we had an ice storm. Luckily, we did not lose power, but I know that people in other parts of the country did. So hopefully you stayed safe and you're staying warm. One thing I know for sure is that it definitely got me ready for more spring content. I am inspired so definitely stay tuned for that. Make sure that you're subscribed to my channel and that you have your notifications turned on so you never miss a video. One last thing if you're looking at this video and thinking like something looks different, if you missed my last video, I actually got new chairs for our dining table here. So I have these slat back wooden black chairs here and then I have these really nice chairs here. They're from Wayfair. They're on casters. They slide around really easily and as you can see Olive has already staked her claim into this chair. She absolutely loves it, but check out my video from last week. I'll link it for you down below and that is where I share the refresh that I did here in our home for winter and you'll see me moving these chairs in. I'm so happy with them. I think they just turned out so nice and Wayfair for the win. I'll put those links down below for you as well. Thanks again so much for spending your time with me here today on YouTube. I'm so happy that you're here. And I will see you next time. Take care.