A French Valentine’s Printable in a Vintage Floating Frame

With Valentines quickly approaching its time to do a little decorating.  Valentine’s printables are so popular for this holiday and they are so easy.    Better yet free printables are an easy inexpensive way to show some love and are a nice celebration to brighten the dull drums of Winter. I think this French Valentine’s printable is a little extra special with the french phrasing.

This French Valentine’s printable can be printed and framed for a vintage romantic look, placed in front of a chalkboard for casual decor, or on a chopping board in the kitchen.  I decided to use an old vintage frame that I converted into a floating frame.  The details on how I converted the frame are later on in the post.

If you love printables as much as I do I would invest in or create a floating frame as the perfect way to display them.

The French Verse on the Valentine Printable

French is such a pretty language, whether spoken or written, so I used it on the printable.  Je t’aime, mon amour translates into I love you, my dear.   The sentiments the same but the French is prettier don’t you agree?

You can download and link to the Valentine’s French Printable here.  There are two sizes one letter size with a white center and the square all blue printable you see in the photos.

The little vignette is designed for my bedroom dresser, with a picture of two of my granddaughters from a few years ago.  I added some babies breath, vintage heirloom dishes and a string of pearls I received as a gift from my son and daughter in law.

The edging on the Valentine printable can be updated by cutting out the scalloped edges on the printable so that it isn’t a plain sided printout.  Alternatively, you can use a ruler to trim the edges as I did in this Valentine Cupcake printable.

Updating a Vintage Frame

I instantly fell in love with the thin vintage gold frames on these old photographs.

If you happen to have a frame you love you can convert it into a floating frame by adding a new hanger to the top of the frame and replacing the original backing with a piece of glass.

Start by taking the old frame apart, and measuring the front piece of the glass.  I then went to Michael’s frame shop and they cut me an identically sized piece of glass for $9.

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Save the little clamps that hold the picture into the frame but discard the hanging wire as it will show in the floating frame.

Clean the frame carefully.

Clean the glass in a sink of hot soapy water.

Use a toothbrush, toothpicks and half an hour of your time to scrub  your old frame clean.  You don’t want to soak it as the glue may give out on the vintage frame.

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Using dish soap and hot water scrub the crevices of the frame with a toothbrush. Once most of the frame is clean, try to scrub out any tiny crevices with the end of a toothpick. Then rinse your frame under the tap to dislodge any debris.

Decide if you like the original patina of your frame.  If not, give it two coats of gold spray paint.  I loved mine just as it was, so I skipped this step.

Add a new hanger to the back of the frame so it doesn’t show from the front.q

Place the Valentine printable on the first plate of glass.  You can add some double sided tape to the back of the printable to ensure the printable doesn’t slip.  Then add the second back layer of glass. Use narrow transparent tape along all the edges, to hold the glass together, and then place the glass into the frame.

With any luck, you can return the tabs back into the vintage frame.  If not run a seal of hot glue all around the edge of your frame making sure the glue stays within the frame track.  The good thing about using the hot glue is that it holds the glass nicely, but you can pull it out once cool to adjust it or replace the printable.

Now that I have a floating frame I can update it and use any printable I like for free.  As Valentine’s comes right after Christmas, our Canadian utility bills are through the rough with cold weather and short daylight hours,  we have to celebrate on a very tight budget.  I guess we could skip it altogether but how can I skip all that pretty pink decor?

Wood Valentine Craft with Frame