Our Holiday Mantle

My mantle this year has a little bit of everything.  Of course I used Pinterest as inspiration (I think EVERYTHING I do lately is Pinterest inspired!) to create some new decor but I also used a lot of items that I already had in my Christmas decor 'stash'.

I incorporated some aqua into the traditional mix of red, white and green...  mainly because I use it in my existing decor and because it's part of the curtains I use to hide the bottom cubbies in my mantle surround.  It tied in really nicely and I like that it gives the decor a bit of warmth.

 The focal point of our mantle is the JOY that I created using a pinterest tutorial I had found.  You can read a little more about it in my last blog post.  The stocking holders are Target specials and the stockings were on clearance a couple years ago from Pottery Barn.  (I thought ahead and bought four even though we only had one kid at the time... smart, huh?  ;)  I still need to get the fourth embroidered with baby #2's name though - will someone remind me to do that after Christmas please?

The vase is a craft fail that I keep using... so I guess it wasn't as much of a fail as I thought?!  The 'berry sprigs' were bought on Black Friday at JoAnne's.

I also crafted this cute pom pom garland using more of the yarn in my craft closet!  It's playful and fits in with the rest of the decor well.

 To one side of the mantle is a few different crafts and finds.  The scrapbook loop trees are a great craft I made last year (you can read about how I created them in this post here).  The papers I was able to find have some of the aqua in them so again - it all works out!  The white architectural element I found a few years ago at Tuesday Morning.  The white bird house is normally in baby #2's room with headbands draped on it's spires.  :)  The green tree is metal and is one of two I found on Black Friday at TJMaxx!  They are so cute and add the height I need in those cubbies.

 On the right side of the mantle is two more of the scrapbook loop trees, in addition to some white spray painted pinecones and a birdhouse I normally keep in my bathroom for decor.  When I took this picture I had just put some white twinkle lights inside (another Pinterest idea) but unfortunately there's no electrical outlet nearby and it would've looked ridunculous to have an extension cord draped up there to give it power!  I actually ended up swapping out the lights for a garden sculpture of a bird that I spray painted white - it looks MUCH better!

And of course there's Bobby, our Elf on the Shelf.  He was keeping an eye on my girls perched on the pinecones here when I took the picture.  :)

Thanks for stopping by to see how I decorated my mantle for the holidays!  I am going to be linking up to the Mantle Party on Home Stories of A to Z!

Go check out some of the other awesome mantles that are featured there!  So many great ideas!  I need to start 'pinning' away for ideas for next year.  ;)

It's never too early to start planning, right?