nature in the home: christmas mantel

i got my christmas mantel completed on christmas eve eve.  oh i love it SO much!  i have never created a mantel-scape that felt "done," but with this one i have finally achieved that.  happiness.

and you know it takes a village to raise a mantel.  the vintage bottles are all from my mother as are the sleighing mr. and mrs. clause and several of the glass ornaments.   some of the ornaments are even from my granny.  the old frame was a salvage that my sister saved and gave me.  the metal (semi) fleur-de-lis things are from the jbs mercantile flea market.  the pine boughs and cones are from our cubmaster's yard.  the holly and nandina berries are from our front yard.  and then there are the crafty projects . . .

the pine boughs were inspired from pinterest.  the first one i put up has held out quite well, despite not having any water for weeks.  i was afraid the jugs filled with water would be too heavy on the mantel?  i'm just wasn't sure.

this is another pinterest inspired craft.  the original piece was string art.  i simple sketched it out on a canvas (i got for $7.19 at joann's (60% off on black friday/saturday).  the glittery greenery i got there as well ($1.99 at 50% off) and the flowers are vintage, gifted from jenni bowlin.

up close and in full light, so you can see the crafty details.

this garland is my pride and joy.  it is so full and lush and happy.  i had seen a burlap one at my friend sherri's house and then a felt one on elise's blog.  they must be the thing this year.  i made mine from three striped knit shirts that i found at goodwill (i went on a sunday when one color is $0.99 and another is half off.  i snagged all three shirts for just shy of $4).  i cut strips that were approximately 1.5 x 4 or 5 inches and then tied them, alternating the colors.  i would tie one or two of each color, occasionally even three together around cotton thread (the same cotton thread that i used on the deer).

the pine cones are on a separate garland.  i spray painted them with the leftovers from our valentines's day treats, then sprayed them again with a clear gloss varnish and sprinkled chunky gold glitter on them while this was still wet.  they are also strung on that same cotton thread.

then i gathered even more inspiration from the christmas nature in the home series and gathered some holly twigs and nandina berries from the front yard to fill in the white bottles.  so festive!  it's a little hard to see with the blow out here, but i also had g draw me a little christmas tree for the gold frame, since i like the one he drew for my halloween mantel so much.

and luckily, we even had house guest last night, so i could show off my deck the hall efforts.  chelle and her three came over for a little playdate.  i had the kids pose in front of my fully decked out mantel with their new build a bears.  luckily mason got two, so g had a friend to hold as well.  what a nice shot for my december daily!  i'm hoping to have some minutes to work on that this afternoon after we get all our errands run.  we have to brave the crowds at kroger to get the rest of what we need for christmas dinner.  merry christmas all!  see you on the other side.  :)