This is it! Valentine’s Day week.

Can you believe it’s already here?

This year, I find myself actually looking forward to the day of love, even though I’m a single lady. Wait what? She must be kidding. I can hear your thoughts all the way over here in NC. I choose to view Valentine’s Day as a time to enjoy life by loving those around me. The world does not stop spinning if you don’t have a date on Valentine’s Day. Seriously, it’s true. Focus on channeling the right energy into your heart and the world will do the same for you.Now on to the project. And since there’s no need to use glue in this project, then you can use it year after year.

Step 1: Gather your materials. I found most of these items at the local dollar store. You can swap the materials of this mini project for other items of your choice. The important thing is to make sure and keep everything proportionally photogenic by using 6 elements/textures in the design. Here are the 6 parts of this project: 1) teddy bear 2) acrylic gems 3) heart box 4) flower in pot 5) pink ribbon 6) silver tray.

I’m not sure why this design concept works, but I’m fairly certain it has something to do with tricking the eye by keeping everything evenly proportioned.

Step 2: For this project, I removed the pink ribbon that was attached to the heart covered box and refurbished it by tying it into a bow. Be sure to set it aside because we’ll be using it in later steps.

3.  Since the flower bouquet came with a hideous green pincushion, I used a few of the acrylic gems to make a red carpet of jewels. Even though the pink flower pot was cute, it wasn’t half as interesting as the red heart box. So into the box the flower goes.

4.  Next, I used simple tricks of photography and staging to angle the box in a way that supported the bear’s pose (he smells like chocolate too 😀 ). It took several shots in the morning sunlight (not the best time to photograph, btw) because of the way the angle of the sun creates shadows behind your subject. See, I paid attention during my photography class.

5. The silver tray was a dollar store steal. Not only does it look much more expensive than its one-dollar price tag indicates, but the material feels sturdy and the details etched into the bottom are flawless.

Dollar stores rock!

I forgot how much I used to love rummaging around these stores. The quality of the items you can use in your DIY projects has greatly improved.

6. The final step… Enjoy your new centerpiece!