Decking the Halls….and the Mantels

I realized as I’ve been editing all of the pictures of my home decorated for Christmas that I am gonna have to break it all down into parts because there are SO many things to show you.  Today, I noticed that some other blogs I enjoy are hosting mantel  decor parties, and since my mantels are probably among my favorite things to decorate for Christmas…I figured we’d start there!

I have 2 fireplaces in my home and this year I’ve had a really good time decorating both of them in completely different styles.  My den is the more funky room by far…with a pink recliner and a polka-dotted sofa…so for that mantel, I have a good time with non traditional colors.  So here’s what’s going on in there….

I saw stockings really similar to these in the Land of Nod catalogue a couple of years ago…for like $30 each.  I figured we could make a craft project out of them one day and that’s just what we did.  I actually like the way mine turned out better because  I added a cuff at the top with some leftover fabric I had that’s used on a chair in the den.  We cut circles and then glued them on with fabric glue and then did the same with the ric rack…it was SO easy and occupied a couple of afternoons for Tid Bit.  I sewed them together one night and that’s it.  I LOVE the way they turned out.  I used white flannel for the main part and felt for all of the circles.  Aren’t they so cute?!

I’m always keeping an eye out for fun ribbon…and this one is PERFECT for my den.  I think it was like $20 for a roll of maybe 30 feet or so (which is a bit steep) but I just fold it nicely and re-use it each year…so for me, it’s been worth the investment.  My mom bought me 6 ft of that garland with fun colored balls on it, and it’s made it SO much easier to just mix that in with a fake greenery garland and some real greenery for a full look.  I’m always sticking other random stuff I happen to find in my Christmas boxes in there too.

These branches are kinda sparkly wacky, but I love them.  This year I stuck them in a couple of large glass jugs that I had and wrapped them up in this iridescent fabric I had leftover from last year and tied them with a short length of my fancy ribbon.

I’ll show you a more complete picture of the whole room later this week.

For my living room, I’ve been wildly inspired by the wreath I made of old hymnals recently.  I also made some flowers out of the hymnals as well as some ornaments…so those things helped me determine the direction I wanted to go.  I wanted it to feel more traditional but still with a little bit of glam.  The best thing I did was to put an old door that I had in the garage over the mantel and I love it so much…i believe it has found a more permanent home there.

The taller plants on the sides are just some $3 peace lilies that I bought and stuck a couple of sparkly branches into.  I found some containers I had that were the size I wanted, but didn’t match…so I just covered them in burlap to add some uniformity.  The tissue paper flowers are like the ones I made for our Easter party, but this time I used a natural colored tissue paper.  The small hymnal flowers are made the same way, I just don’t cut the edges because I love the natural yellowed part.  It also makes the flower look more like a peony than a dahlia to leave the edges raw.  Check out the tissue flower tutorial and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The small balls you can see are just some cheap non-breakable ones that I found at Hobby Lobby.  We tore the hymnals into smaller pieces and decoupaged the ornaments with the pieces using mod podge.  Once the ornaments were covered, we sprinkled some iridescent glitter over them.  This was so easy that once I showed my 5-year-old how to do it, he made almost 2 dozen of them.  A great craft project for him, and it gave me loads more fun stuff to decorate with!  He’s particularly proud as well that I’m using his project to decorate all over the house.

I think that’s it pretty much.  I’ll zoom out the camera on Friday and show you what the actual rooms housing these mantels look like.

Happy hump day!

PS. For other inspiring mantel ideas, check out these holiday decorating linky parties that are going on right now at Southern Hospitality, Home Stories A to Z, and The Lettered Cottage.  Also check out my friend Myra’s adorable vintage inspired mantel!