I realize Christmas was a month ago. Between going to Disney World with the in-laws,
visiting with my family, and end of the year (rolling over into first of the year) demands at work, I’m a little behind. Sorry!
Last year’s mantle was boring.
This year I decided to put a little more effort into it.
I LOVE the look of apothecary jars with Christmas ornaments, vase fillers…anything in them really. So off to Hobby Lobby I went (where both Christmas ornaments and glass were 50% off).
Those pine cones came out of Kinnery Mastroianni’s yard about a year ago. I was at her house for a baby shower and noticed how huge they were and made off with a couple. They just sat in my house for 9 months until I figured out a use for them!
The silver candlesticks were a wedding gift and the mercury glass-ish ones are from World Market. I am really loving the contrast between natural elements and metals these days and thought this would offset the pinecones and jute Christmas trees well.
The Christmas trees are Styrofoam cones (Hobby Lobby) wrapped with jute thread (Home Depot). I must have saw this somewhere else, because I’m a lot of things, but original isn’t one of them, though I can’t remember where… Anyway, Styrofoam, jute, spray adhesive, and a little hot glue and these babies were born.
I’ve had the snowflake ornaments for a while. I kinda have this thing for snowflake ornaments, so much so that I have a separate tree covered in them.
Every year my mom and my grandmother get me a snowflake ornament (Swarovski and Lenox, respectively). The gold ones on the mantle are just some cheapies I found at Target one year.
I also got some sisal rope at Home Depot to wrap around this aluminum pail (with hot glue) for a natural touch on the other side of the living room.
I later picked up these beauties at TJ Maxx on sale after Christmas.
Oh, and here’s a look at my tree. Looks a lot like it did last year! J
It was a lot of fun this year to do a little more with my mantle specifically, especially now that this really feels like our home instead of a house we just bought. Outside of Christmas though, I'm working on a few fun projects, now that I have a little more time in the evenings than I did late last year. I'll keep you posted!
