Christmas mantels

Hello there! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a lovely day with scrumptious food – all made by moi thankyouverymuch. I done good folks. I don’t cook often, but when I do, it’s pretty darn great. (YES, you heard right Dad, I DO cook.)  :)

I’m getting closer with the Christmas decor – not sure it’s going to happen by Monday, but I’m having fun with it, and that’s what matters most, right? One of my favorite spots to decorate is our family room mantel. It’s an odd shape (corner fireplace) so it requires some thunkin’ on my part.

Last year, I was obsessed with magnolias, so the top picture is what I came up with. I really adored it, but because it’s in our family room, I’m hoping to tone it down a bit this year – I’m thinking a little more natural, a teensy bit more fun, a little less glam. I’m still going to work in the magnolia’s – at least I hope to. They are gorg. 

To get some inspiration, I browsed through the Internet last night and I found some beautiful ideas I wanted to share.

The penguins are the cutest idea yet, and the the other is just classic:

I LOVE the simple glass vases with white “snow” on the penguin mantel – how easy yet beautiful!

The idea on the left below is where my mind is heading…big fluffy pieces of greenery shooting out everywhere (photo courtesy of Country Living). I love the use of ironwork on the one on the right:

   

Again, simple but fluffy on the left. The picture on the right isn’t a mantel, obviously, but I LOVE the swag and vinyl lettering on the mirror, and the snow globes on the candleholders. Brilliant!:

The left below is F.U.N. and sooooo easy to do. The right mantel is classic, but what really drew me to this picture was the huge disco ball (?) ornament (?) hanging from the ceiling, complete with greenery. You know how I love me some greenery:

       

Below, classic yet again (can you tell my style?) – one with just a bit of greenery, the other with a boatload of candles. Both oooooh so pretty!:

    

This one I loved because it could be an ode to my hubs…he would LOVE this. I don’t know why instruments work so well for the holidays, but they scream festive to me, especially when they are displayed like this:

   

What do you think? Love them? Our mantel is coming together in my head…right now it’s just a pile of fluff and stuff. I hope to show you later on this weekend!

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about the winner of the jewelry giveaway…but the turkey has knocked me out for a second night in a row. I’ll announce that this weekend too.  :)  Patience grasshopper…

Countdown to Christmas!!

This another "rewind" post of sorts and it includes a couple of my all time DIY Christmas projects that I did last year. I wanted to highlight these now so you would have plenty of time to work on them if you are so inclined. :)

I'll show you a couple of my advent calendars and then show you some inspiration for advents. FUN! First up is my vinyl countdown. I had an Uppercase Living party just to get this sucker for free. (That's how I roll.) In the catalog it says to put it on a pizza pan, but I wanted something I could put anywhere in the house and a pizza pan didn't sound like it would work (more on that later!)

So, I got a round table top from Lowe's, painted it with magnetic paint, then put a coat of white over the top. After the paint was good and dry I put my vinyl on:

(You can click on most pictures to get to last year's posts.)

(Sorry for the poor quality, I'm using last year's pics!) I hot glued a fun ribbon around the edge:
Then got a little wooden tree from Hob Lob, painted it, and hot glued a magnet to the back for the countdown marker:
I love this one. It's fareeeking adorable, yes it is.

As I mentioned last year, it was a very good thing the Bub had no sense of time because I didn't finish up this next project till about 12 days before Christmas. He got day 12 a couple times, day 23 a few...you get the picture. ;)
I just took the cardboard boxes you can find at most craft stores and painted them -- half red, half green. Then I attached paper to the fronts, some fun stickers, brads and stuff. I went a little overboard with the stuff, but that's half the fun don'tchaknow...
This whole advent calendar cost less than $18, because I got the boxes on sale. If you've got older kids they could totally join in and make these with you!

I get little trinkets for the boxes from the dollar store, etc. Starting this year I'll also write down activities we can do together and put those inside. Maybe take a drive to look at Christmas lights, make cookies, watch a Christmas movie, things like that.

Of course after I did this, I saw Carrie's adorable version, that is to. die. for.:
I am considering hanging ours the same way, or even trying to get it into a Christmas tree shape. For now, I kind of like the idea of just one sitting out every morning for the Bub to open. Less temptation for him. ;)

Here are some other fun ideas I found looking around the net...

Speaking of pizza pan advents, this one turned out soooo adorable, I kinda wish I had seen this before I did our round one! Love the ribbon woven through!:

(Click pics to go to the source site.)

Something as simple as pails would be sahweeeet with some spray paint and numbers:

You could hang them anywhere!

I LURVE this idea!! Match books covered in fun paper with numbers attached:
This one would be only for written activities but I love that idea. (And how GORG to put them in an apothecary jar! Gleeee!) The site I found this on was from years ago and she got it from an old magazine, so sorry there is no source for this one.

I scanned this one from my Women's Day holiday mag -- same idea, but on a corkboard:
Oops! She did it again... Martha never fails to amaze me:

Little bubby socks! With little bitty bubby clothespins! Ack.

Here's a similar version, I think this person made the stockings herself. If you sew, this wouldn't take long at all!:

Here's another Martha version using old Christmas cards:

A cutie felt calendar with pockets:

(Which could be used for just about anything, depending on the colors you use.)

These are from an Etsy shop (click pic) but look easy enough to make on your own:

Ohhhh, I know! I know! What about doing them in red velvet or felt and adding a little bit of white fluffy trim around them to look like Santa sacks?? I'm dyin' here! Could that be any cuter??

By the way, that's a hint for an upcoming Christmas project I'll show you soon!

Have you seen any other great advent calendars out there? If so, share them in the comments!

The Before and After Party will be open and whooping it up till this weekend, so link in or visit the party! And I have a fantabulous molding project to show you later this week -- with my first video. Egads. That is, unless I find my senses and decide to nix that part. We'll see... ;)

Inspired by Ballard Designs again!

So you remember this cutie little table I picked up made my sister get from the neighbor's trash? Yeah, she still takes a lot of credit for this beaut:
I mentioned then I had a Ballard project in mind for above this table to replace the art I had on the wall. I saw these in the catalog the day before I finished up that table and knew they MUST BE MINE:I knew as soon as I saw them they would be perfect for that wall, and I also knew they would be easy and cheap to do on my own. I like easy and cheap.

I've had the materials for this project for ohhh...ummm...a MONTH, maybe more? And then I saw Traci had done them as well and that was the inspiration I needed to get my booty movin'.

I started with my main materials -- I used eight inch wide boards and chair rail for the trim around the shelf:
My table is only two feet wide, so I wanted them to be a bit smaller and got them cut at 19" long. The piece of wood was less than $4.

I started measuring and cutting the trim to figure out the cuts: At first I was using my miter box, and then remembered I AM WOMAN and went right for the compound miter saw instead. Either way works!

The next step was to yell a bit, (maybe) cuss a little, and stomp my feet because I measured wrong and ended up running out of my trim. Instead of another trip to Lowe's (it was nap time so I was stuck anyway), I used some trim I had already purchased for another project.

You have to cut the trim at a 45 degree angle so they meet up at the corners. I used my nail gun to attach them but you can easily use finishing nails:

Isn't that trim GORG?

When done, this is what you'll get:

I got my corbels from Home Depot -- they have a much better selection than Lowe's. I got my corbels for the kitchen island from there too.

To install them, I measured where I wanted them each to go underneath:

Then used heavy duty glue to put them on:

I popped in a few nails to secure them while the glue set, but again, this is not necessary.

I chose big, fat corbels cause I like 'em big. I like 'em chunky. (Just like Rebecca does. Oh yeah.)

Then I used my one dollar glossy black spray paint and sprayed them within an inch of their lives:

It took me a whole day to accessorize them to my liking but I think I'm finally happy:

WAIT.

Now I'm happy:
The lamp cord is (mostly) covered. I can breathe.

We don't have a ton of surfaces for accessories -- I mean, I have plenty, but I always wanted something else to spruce up, especially during the holidays. These will be so fun to experiment with!

Because I got the big and chunky corbels ($9 each) the whole project was about $48. If you use smaller corbels, you could get this done for less than $40 easy. Oh yeah, did I mention Ballard's version is $80 for ONE of the smallest shelves? Ummmmkay.

Accessorizing is something I struggle with -- it takes me awhile to get the tchotchkes how I want them. Later this weekend I'll show you the process I went through with these shelves and a few tricks I've learned along the way.

Oh yeah, and next week, to celebrate my one meeeeeeeeeeeeellionth "hit" I'm going to share everything I have learned about blogging. I get so many questions asking for advice and I think this will be a helpful post. To celebrate, I have a small giveaway for one of you as well. :)

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Update! Traci gave a great tutorial here! And Jen did one here too!! FAB! I love seeing all these miter boxes out there!!

A-thrifting we will go!

So if you follow me on Twitter, I took you along on my trip through a few antique stores today. My friend Jen told me about the great shops in Pendleton, Indiana, and I have been waiting weeks for the right time to take a few hours to head out there.

They did not disappoint! It was so fun, I wish you could all go with me! Well, not all of you. We'd be sure to break something, all thousands of us. (Uh, that's nuts, by the way.)

I wanted to show you some of the stuff I loved. These were toothpick holders:

Oh. my. goodness. gracious, they were adorable. That amber one on the corner to the left, I picked up about eight times. But they were $10 each, and I only use toothpicks when I bake, and I only bake, like, uhhhhh...

Well, let's just say it's not worth the $10.

I loved the color of these Ball jars:

The owner of the shop told me that the Ball jars with the number 13 are worth much more, because in the "olden days" the women would break those with a 13 on them because they were superstitious. Then during prohibition, the men who would drink out of these jars wouldn't use the 13 jars either. I mean, how cool is that? I love hearing the history behind items like these.

I am a sucker for old, chunky corbels:

These were $22 each, but I found one for $9.99. Awwww yeah...

You've probably seen these in the Pottery Barn catalog:

Psssst...they are cheaper at antique stores. You didn't hear it from me. I absolutely LOVE them. I would do the Pepsi case cause I'm a Pepsi girl, but they just don't go with my decor. I really want one for the deck, but until they make one in brown, green and rust, it just isn't going to work for me. Gah. I'm weird like that, I know.

So what did I get?? Squeal! I can't wait to show you! I saw this key tray in the first shop, and I knew it must be mine:

The sides are large keys. I am fairly sure it is not antique, but that's what you get with antique shops -- some "real" stuff, some not, some junk. All I know is I love it! It holds my skeleton keys.

This milk glass compote is the biggest I've seen and I just adore it:

I'm finding myself more and more attracted to these white pretties. And it was only $4! I thought the tag was wrong for sure. For now, I threw in some hydrangeas, but I see many possibilities with this one.

Look at the pretty detail!

This little clock was $5, and I just think it's a perfect little accent:

Often I find I will spend more at certain stores that I wouldn't spend at others -- do you do this? Like I doubt I would have paid $5 for this little clock at Goodwill, but because it was at an antique shop, (even though it may not be an antique), I did? I'm an odd bird.

My most fabulous find had me skipping! SKIPPING people. I went back through one shop for a second look, and really took my time. I don't know how I missed this the first time through:

A beautiful, large, cedar chest! For only FORTY BUCKS. I could not believe my eyes. I mean, this is a good deal, right? I have no idea how much these are worth. The stain is lovely, but I will redo the top, just not sure what I'll do:
It is GORG. I thought I knew where I wanted to put it, but I think I may try something move some things around and experiment...stay tuned. How should I clean the cedar? Can I wipe it down with cleaning wipes, or should I use something specific? I am new to cedar. ;)

I treated myself to this excursion today because I am finally caught up on my consultations! So if you have sent pictures and have not heard from me, I didn't get them -- just let me know. I so enjoy working with you all and getting you excited about your homes! I love it!

I will not be taking any new consults until I've finished all of those who have paid for one but haven't sent their info yet -- I'll let ya'll know when I'm ready to start up again! And at that point I'm going to take a certain amount a month, just for my own sanity. ;) I'll let you know the details soon my Squeezies. (If you have e-mailed me about a consult, please go ahead and send your info!)

Fun announcements coming up soon...can't wait to share with you! Squeal! (And again, no, I am not pregnant.) :)

ann