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?