Eight dollars and eight minutes – that’s about what it took to change my outdoor Christmas planter to a Valentine’s Day planter. It was actually ridiculously easy.
I must admit I had the birdhouse, so the $8 covered the heart-shaped welcome sign and the two burlap hearts. The good news there is you really aren’t spending $8 for a short-term planter, you are adding to your reserves for future projects as well. You can see the evidence of that in the outside Christmas planter I started with. Almost everything there was from previous years except the living material – basically the berries, pine cones, and evergreens. Even the birch branches had been tucked away from last year. 
One thing I’ve learned is to be careful about what could get frozen in. Perhaps I’d have removed the birch snowman, but that was no longer an option in a Chicagoland winter. I may try switching out his scarf for a heart patterned ribbon on a day when it isn’t snowing.
I decorated the fireplace too. It went right from Christmas decor to Valentine’s Day. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the wall behind our fireplace just happens to be red. 
Even there its pretty much scavenger hunt through the house – old Valentines’ Day cards and a candy box, a pitcher from the basement, items I’ve used for Valentine’s Day in the past. What a nice way to pay homage to those pieces of history that you can’t part with, but don’t seem to have a use for. Cuz yes you do!
Looking good Carol. I love the snowman’s hat!