
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! If you’re a true romantic or not, it’s still fun to spruce up the house a little with Valentine decor. I just finished decorating my kitchen for Valentine’s Day and wanted to show all of you my Valentine Tree…and share my finds from the Dollar Tree.
I work from my home so I’m here a lot–and I have enjoyed having the house decorated during the Christmas holidays. To me, removing all of the Christmas decorations is a sad time. All of the glowing lights of the trees and the fun and bright decor throughout the house during November and December is so special…and then January comes and it’s all gone.
Poof.
Gone.
I have one small tree in my kitchen that I keep up year-round and change the decorations throughout the year. I took down the Christmas ornaments this weekend and immediately put up the Valentine decorations.

I kept the red berry picks from Christmas in the tree. the XOXO and polka-dotted hearts came from the Dollar Tree. The hearts came as a set of three attached together with ribbon. I cut the hearts apart and used the two red and white hearts in the pack as ornaments.

I also used red and gold Christmas ball ornaments by attaching three together to sit on the branches. I already had the ribbon and worked them through the tree. The oversized red glittered hearts also came from Dollar Tree. I also placed three metal mailboxes in the tree…also from Dollar Tree. The red pom-pom garland is from Hobby Lobby. I bought it after Christmas in 2019 when it was on clearance.

Do you remember the gingerbread house tree collar I made for this tree at Christmas? If not, you can see it HERE. I wanted to make something comparable to the gingerbread houses so I made a collar using gift bags.

These bags were from (you guessed it) Dollar Tree. The bags were in a 3-pack. To make the collar, I simply cut out the front and back of each bag so I would have six panels.

I cut six cardboard squares about the size of the bag panels and attached the panels to the squares using UGlue Dashes. Tape or glue is fine, too. Since the cardboard is being covered up, I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to cut them perfectly.


The LOVE sign also came from Dollar Tree. It just needed to be gussied up.

I found these wood-like signs at the Dollar Tree and picked them up before I was sure what I was going to make with them. The edges seemed a little rough so I lightly sanded them. I began by painting the LOVE sign with white chalk paint. Craft paint works fine, too. I painted two coats of chalk paint to the front allowing the first coat to dry before applying the second.
I wanted a little pop of color inside the heart on the sign so I chose to use the same red check ribbon that is on the tree.
OK. Here’s where it gets a little messy. (Look, if you want to see how the sausage is made you have to face the dirty truth.) I had no plan for how I was going to attach the ribbon inside the heart or the red ribbon to hang the sign…so I used what I had. It’s a hot mess on the back but the front looks great. I used regular clear tape to attach the ribbon on the back. Lining up the stripes on the ribbon, I ran tape along the back to secure it to the sign. A piece of scrap fabric would work even better.

This sign is hanging on the Wooden Hanger I made at Christmas for my kitchen counter. If you’d like to see that tutorial, you can click HERE.
I removed the hanger that came on the sign so I had to figure out a way to attach new ribbon to it. I pulled out these square zip tie mounts. The mounts already have an adhesive on the back so it took seconds to attach them, run a small zip tie through and tie my red ribbon on to the zip tie. Again, it’s a hot mess in the back but no one will ever see it…right?


I left the plate and small pitcher from the Christmas decorations hanging on the wood hanger. I did add the small red berries inside the pitcher. The new LOVE sign blended in perfectly.

My only piece of advice when shopping at the Dollar Tree is that you should buy what you like when you see it. I had walked through a local Dollar Tree last week and they had tons of the red hearts in stock. Once I decided how I was going to decorate my Valentine Tree, I went back and all of them were sold. I had to visit two other stores to find the red hearts. Lesson learned. (That’s how I ended up with four wood signs. I guess I have more crafting left.)
That’s all for now! Thank you so much for stopping by Mulch and Paint today! I always enjoy your visits and the great feedback and comments made on the blog and social media. You all are the best!
Until next time,

PLEASE PIN THIS FOR LATER!!

Fabulous Dollar Tree Hacks! Your tree looks great! Thanks for sharing at All About Home!
I would like to invite you to also share at Thursday Favorite Things this coming week. The party starts at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday EST and runs through Sun. at midnight.
Hope to see you there too!
Thank you Amber! I will definitely stop in on Thursday! ~Kristi
Thank you so much for sharing to our linky party!
Thank you Laura! Thank you for being a wonderful host! ~Kristi