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Well, I had to remove all those pur-ty Valentine decorations now that it's over.  (I'm definitely the impatient one once a holiday is over... gotta clear out the old decorations and make way for new... the day after!)  And my mantle looked so bare!  So, I did what everyone would do.  I set aside any and all plans to actually clean and organize my house on Wednesday (my day off) to run out to Joann's.  


I have precisely 3 hours from the second my oldest gets on his bus till the Kindergarten bus arrives.  And the nearest craft stores are 25 minutes away.  I also had to squeeze in Home Depot and the Dollar Tree (c'mon... those are gimmes with a new house and a thrifty mom).  Unfortunately I could easily spend two hours in Joann's alone.  Yes... do the math (remember I was a math major)... that doesn't add up.

So, after flying around the stores.  (OK... most people would think I was being pokey, but have you ever SEEN how much stuff there is to look at.  Home Depot was probably my quickest trip at 20 minutes.  But Joann's.... geesh, they have clearance items scattered all around the store... it's not easy to "fly".)  I probably missed some great deals, but I managed to get these.  (The ribbon is from a few weeks ago at AC Moore.)

Needs:

1.  Felt (I got sagey green, tan, and offwhite colors)

2.  Ribbon (I used the one on the bottom... the ivy print)

3.  Fabric scraps (or ribbons scraps would be fine)

Steps:

1.  Cut the felt into triangles.  At first I did two triangles per sheet of felt, but realized (remember... math mind... unfortunately, it sometimes it takes awhile for it to kick in) I could do three.  (Fold each sheet in half, then half again... then cut on the diagonal from 

one corner to the opposite corner).

2.  Then make little holes in the upper corners of each triangle.  I'm not into grommets or precise holes.  Instead.  I folded each triangle like this....

The I folded each top over like this....

And cut a teeny slit on that fold about 1/2" in from the edge.

3.  Then line up the triangles and weave ribbon through them.  I made them overlap.  Here is a close-up.

I did a perfect pattern (my preschoolers would be SO proud!)

4.  After the triangles were lined up, I made little strips of fabric about 1" wide.  The fabric I used was a dull green bull denim.  Surprisingly, it looks a lot like grosgrain ribbon.  However, the ONLY reason I picked this fabric is because it was a good color and was in the clearance bins.  I tied the strips between each triangle.  When I was done, it looked like this...

Here's the final product.

Remember those white candlestick finds from the thrift store on Monday?  Here they are on the mantle.  I just got a few tapers and some super cute ribbon (ignore the remote back there... oops!)