Santa's Back on the Mantel

You know I like to change my mantel for the holidays and every year I try to make it a bit different, just using everyday objects around my house.

 

But this year, there's one element from last year's mantel that I couldn't leave out:


 Santa!

 

 

You might recall that Jason made me this Pottery Barn knock off last year and I fell in love with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So he's made his way up there again this year, but all of the other elements have changed.  I tried to use objects around my house and I was trying to create a mantel with a vintage feel.

 

 

 

Here's what I came up with:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, I used an old window for the backdrop. 

 

You'll see a couple of the objects I picked up at the Salvation Army haul.

 

 

My little grapevine reindeer got a makeover with a red ribbon around is neck.

 

 

 

I placed a white pitcher in an old soda crate, filled the pitcher with branches that I spray painted red and filled the box with some pine branches.  I added a few pine cones alongside the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I poured some Epsom salt into some old ball jars, added a candle and attached some fake holly to the jars.    In case you're wondering, I got the fake holly from the poinsettia bouquet I shared with you in my Salvation Army haul video.  If you missed it, you can watch it here. I still have a lot of it left so I can embellish my gifts this year.

 

 

 

 

Speaking of gifts, I wrapped a couple in simple brown paper packaging that I picked up from the dollar store.  I tied ribbon on one and twine on the other and added little embellishments from a big box I have (mostly from the Salvation Army or from gifts I receive each year).  I haven't made the tags yet, but these are real gifts.  I'm not one for "faking" gifts for decorating. 

 

I just don't like the thought of wasting the boxes or the wrapping paper so I use real gifts, for real people in my decorating.  The challenge is not to forget to give them to the recipients!

 

 

Once the gifts were wrapped, I stacked them on top of an old Coca-Cola box.

 

 

I also filled a big vintage egg basket with pine cones and placed it on the floor.  The Christmas ball tree sits on an old wash bucket.  I debated keeping the Christmas ball tree in the display because it is more modern, but it lights up and Noah loves to look at it, so I kept it.

 

 

Finally, our stockings are usually a pewter blue color, but they are very shimmery and sparkly and I just didn't feel like they matched this year's mantel, so I set off to purchase some burlap stockings.

 

I was shocked by the prices! I couldn't find one less than $20!  So I tried my hand at sewing once again and I guess I did okay because they at least LOOK like stockings.

 

I got my material at JoAnn Fabric and I spent less than $15 for all four stockings.

 

They were a bit plain, so I added some small wooden ornaments that my mom gave me from when I was a kid.  I like the little detail and they gave the stockings more of a whimsical feel.

 

Each stocking has a unique wooden ornament.

 

 

Finally, on the left side on the floor, there is a little gold tree sitting on top of an old bucket.  I also included a little copper pot that I filled with evergreens and tied a red ribbon on the front.

 

 

 

 



Thankful to Have a Thanksgiving Mantel

I knew what my Thanksgiving mantel would look like months ago.  I am a Pinterest addict, as I mentioned before.   I was inspired when I came across this photo on Pinterest and I knew I was going to hijack this idea with the old brown beer bottles.

 

                                                                                          Source: whipperberry.com via Shanon on Pinterest

 

I just thought it was the most adorable Fall mantel.  

 

One Sunday afternoon in the middle of a rain storm, Jason and I decided it would be a good idea to schlep around an OUTSIDE flea market.  We were only there for less than ten minutes because we quickly realized how foolish it was to drag our one year old around in a downpour.

 

But in those ten minutes, I found exactly what I was looking for:  a big box of old brown beer bottles.  I only needed six bottles to pull off the look I found on Pinterest.  The woman who was selling them was just trying to unload her stuff so she cut me a deal:  an enormous box of a variety of bottles for $5. 

 

So this weekend, I pulled out those old bottles, cleaned them off and printed out the word "Thankful" on my Silhouette. 

 

After I put the letters on the bottles, I put a wheat stalk in each bottle.

 

 

 

 

I filled a basket with pinecones and placed it on some world atlas books that were left in our house when we bought it.

 

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the mantel, I used the pumpkin Jason made me for Halloween and put some gourds up there with it to hide the plate we placed beneath it in case it begins to rot

 

SIDENOTE:

(As lovers of all things Fall, we keep pumpkins as long as we possibly can in our house.  Once, when I first met Jason, he bought me an enormous pumpkin and placed it in my living room.  This thing was gigantic - I don't think I could have even moved it if I tried.  I developed a sort of attachment to it because I loved that he bought me a pumpkin! A lot of guys buy their girlfriends flowers or jewelry but this guy bought me a PUMPKIN and I loved every bit of it. 

 

Needless to say, the pumpkin became a permanent decoration in my house . . . well into Spring, until one day Jason picked it up to discover a thick goo leaking out of it!  Ew. That's gross . . . so now we keep plates underneath just in case we keep the pumpkin longer than we should!)

 

 

You wonder why I'm not consistent with blogging?  Maybe because I tell a million stories and my posts always ramble on . .. I just can't help it.

 

Anyway, so I placed a pumpkin and some gourds on the left hand side of the mantel. 

 

 

You might remember, this pumpkin that Jason painted for me for Halloween this year.  I just turned that "31" around to the back so no one would see it. You can also see the plate that is underneath it in case it decides to leak goo.

 

 

 

I put an old window behind everything for a backdrop and there you have it, my Thanksgiving mantel.

 

 

Do you think it's HGTV worthy?  Am I famous yet?

 

 

Halloween mantel

 

 

It's that time of year again! Our favorite holiday season is in full swing -

 

Halloween!

 

Aisles at stores are packed with all kinds of creepy Halloween decorations and costumes (and candy, of course)!

 

We're gearing up for the season by doing our annual decorating.  I always love when I pull out the Halloween bins and discover new decorations because I always shop at the end of the season, when everything is 75% off. 

 

I usually forget about what I purchased until I start to decorate the following year, like these little spider candle votives that we got at Big Lots last year for 90% off.

 

 

 

 

It's a good thing because I've been trying to scale back on making purchases of any kind of "stuff" lately.  I'm telling you that reading that Garbology book really impacted me as a consumer.
 

Anyway, I decided this year I was going to create a black and white mantel.  It all started because I pulled out the witch silhouette Jason made a few years ago.  I used to frame her above the mantel with a black picture frame, but you might remember that we spray-painted that frame an off-white when we created Noah's nursery?

 

Well Noah moved upstairs to our room and we took his nursery downstairs (did I even post about that bedroom switcheroo move? I can't remember).

 

So the off-white frame hasn't really been in use.  So I pulled it out and put the witch in the center and a black and white themed Halloween mantel was born.

 

 

 

 

I searched around our house for anything I could find that was black, white or cream and started pulling a spooky mantel together.

 

 

I moved our bird cage filled with cream candles and placed that on the mantel.  I might need to add some plastic spiders on the candles or something to spook it up a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

I also had this old, beat up ironstone plate, so I printed out a spider web using my Silhouette machine and created a little Halloween plate.

 

 

 

 

 

I tossed some plastic skulls in an apothecary jar and added them to the display.

 

 

 

 

 

We had this black and white sign that my mom bought for us a few years ago for a Halloween party we had for Imani and it fit perfectly with the theme this year.

 

 

 

 

 

I added one of my Halloween trees, along with an oversized bat.

 

 

 

 

And of course I kept my homemade chalk board, but changed it to read "Trick or Treat."

 

 

 

 

 

I also had some black candlesticks and a black cheese-plate pedestal so I added a white skull (that lights up at night) and some cream colored candles.

 

 

 

 

 

I really want a white pumpkin with an "A" monogram to sit on the pedestal instead of the skull, but I have to get Mr. Coupon Cowboy to sit down and paint one for me. I think I've told you that I am not an artist

 

nor am I neat
 

so I stay away from paint and paint brushes.

 

I just come up with the ideas and my husband makes them a reality.  I feel bad he gets suckered into crafts when his degree is in fine arts.
 

I haven't had the time to convince him I need a white monogrammed pumpkin yet.   He's healing up from his dental implant surgery, which actually went very well in case you were wondering.

 

 

But he did create an awesome pumpkin for me as a surprise when I came home from work a few weeks ago.  It's the only item in my display that isn't black or white.

 

I had shown Jason a picture in a magazine of a pumpkin painted with a super cool "31" on it.  The next thing I knew, this baby was sitting on my table when I came home.

 

 

 

Those grave stones were also purchased at Big Lots last year for 90% off.  I"m loving them placed around the bottom of the mantel.

 

 

 

And there you have it.  Here's the mantel all pulled together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here you can see the whole fireplace, with Jason's masterpiece pumpkin to add a touch of orange.

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween! 

 

We'll be bringing you more Halloween decorating ideas soon, but if you just can't wait, you can check out some of our past ideas here, here and here.

 

And if you want to see some of our crazy costumes, click here.

 

 

 

Simple Fall Mantel

Every year in September I am tempted to decorate the mantel for Halloween because it's my favorite season, but I always make myself wait until October.

So after I took down the 'Back to school mantel,' I created a mantel to celebrate Fall.  It will only be up for a couple of weeks before I put up the Halloween mantel for the month of October, but I figured I'd share it with you before I change it.  It's pretty simple

 

 

 

 

I have my monogrammed platter, that I have managed not to break for several years now!  You can read about it here.

 

 

I have a collection of old bottles, so I gathered a couple in brown and one in red and added them to the mantel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my mirror turned into a chalk board, along with some cat tails and some stalks of wheat that Imani found a few years ago. I also placed some Fall colored candles on the mantel and threw in some pine cones for texture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the left is a big round vase filled with a money plant my friend Brittney gave me many years ago.  It's one of my favorite gifts in my house.

 

 

 

 

First Day of School Mantel

Imani started middle school today. In an effort to celebrate this milestone (and because I still had a mantel celebrating the Fourth of July in September), I decide to create a 'back to school' mantel.

 

 

First, I dug out all of our first day of school pictures. Here she was on her first day of kindergarten getting on the bus with an older neighborhood 'buddy.'

 

 

 

Here is her first day of first grade. She insisted on wearing bright green crocs. Did I mention we live in Ithaca, where crocs are fashionable? Anyone who knows me knows this was difficult for me to accept.

 

 

Here is her first day of second grade. She wanted to hug the new shrub in our front yard. This was the first year Imani put an end to dresses and skirts.

 

 

Third grade:

Here is the first day of fourth grade, when Bieber Fever started to hit.

And fifth grade, when Imani was proud to have a baby brother to see her off on the first day of school.

 

 

 

Once I gathered all of the pictures, I found some school-related items like a globe and some books. I wrote a message on a little chalkboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I pulled out the scrabble tiles and spelled the mantel's theme.

 

 

 

Finally, I found a free printable  ABC picture (click the link to get one yourself) and  framed it.

 

 

 

 

That's it; a quick and easy way to celebrate back to school - and Jason is grateful he no longer has to look at a 4th of July mantel in September.

 

 

And here is Imani on her first day as a middle schooler.  

 

 

 

 

Cheers! Here's to an awesome school year.

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