Thursday, December 8, 2011

Christmas is in the Air

At long last...a few minutes to blog. Whew.

We moved on Saturday with the help of some good friends and we are finally starting to get settled into the new house! 

Obviously my plan of attack was the kitchen first. I have literally been digging through my bedroom closet each morning to scramble up something to wear to work. But no fear, all of my pyrex, kitchenaid, tupperware, cuisinart goodness was cleaned and tidily stored away in the kitchen cabinets. 

Wednesday night, I put up my Christmas tree....while watching The Polar Express...and eating marshmallows. I started on Saturday while viewing Elf for the first time this season, but I was missing a few metric bolts to lock the tree into the stand. It is up now though, and I love looking at my collection of Nostalgic Homes by Hallmark that my mom started collecting in 1984 the year before I was born. This is the 28th year the collection has been going and I have every one!

Tonight I put together our Christmas mantle. I have never done something like this, so this was kind of a lesson in crafting for me. After a pretty stressful week with the move, it was so nice to relax and get into the holiday spirit.



Now let's break it down...



My mom had these old wooden spools in her attic. I remembered them from my childhood while perusing Etsy one night and asked my mom if I could have them. They look great as candle holders.

The stocking hangers were purchased at Target at the end of the season a few years ago for $5 each.



I had some silver ornaments that I bought a Walmart a few years ago to decorate a second tree that I gave up in the move. I painted some of them a light gold color and wrapped some of them in strips from an old red sweater to add some more color. 



Forrest and I went for a run a few weeks ago and picked up the big pine cones featured on the mantle. The small cones were pulled from a Christmas swag I bought for $1 at the Dollar Tree last year. Also the two small candle votives were purchased at the Dollar Tree for $1 each.  




I bought some burlap a few weeks ago, but hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I made this wreath using a wire coat hanger, burlap, and some felt to make the flowers.



I bought two vases from the Dollar Tree and wrapped them in twine. This past weekend I picked up some twigs in the yard and saved them to make this! I spray painted the twigs and then stuck them into the vase using that green flower base stuff to keep them from falling all nimbly-bimbly like. 



Total Cost of the Christmas Mantle = $13.87
Burlap ~ $2.00 @ Hancock Fabrics
Felt for rosettes ~ $.40 for 2 at Walmart
Candles ~ $3.00 for 6 at the Dollar Tree
Spray Paint ~ $3.47 at Walmart
Votives ~ $2.00  for 2 at the Dollar Tree
Vases ~ $2.00 for 2 at the Dollar Tree
Green flower foam ~ $1.00

What I had around:
pine ones (small & big)
twine
burlap
hot glue gun
silver ornaments
old red sweater
stocking hangers
stockings with our names from JCPenny
old wooden spools


This is our 9 foot Christmas tree. We have to go artificial because I have allergies :( My little angle touches the ceiling, but she fits! I need another tree because I have about 2 boxes of ornaments..including a collection of Winnie the Pooh story books from Hallmark that didn't make it on the tree this year.  :(



When coming up with my ideas for the mantle, I turned to Pinterest. Here are some of the images that inspired me.

I looked for this glittery paint, but didn't find any. I think I like the milder gold I chose to use better anyway.




I need to add some green to the mantle to go with my stocking. There is a cedar tree right at the line between my neighbors yard and ours....I am going to ask them this weekend if I can cut some of it!



I still want to add a banner with some Christmasy word to hang down from the mantle. I was going to use the burlap to do that. I am going to work on that this weekend.


This was what inspired my use of the pine cones.



I wasn't going to use red, but then I realized that almost all of my holiday mantle pins had red in them, so I knew I was drawn to that. I decided not to fight my instincts.


What kind of mantle-decorating have you been up to?

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