One of my favorite places to decorate in my home is my mantel. I haven’t always had a mantel, in fact the “mantel” I have right now is more like a shelf above an electric fireplace. But who’s counting? We move around so much and usually live in military housing, so I take what I can get! I have now spent a full year in this house and I’ve been able to decorate my mantel for all the seasons and holidays. So I thought I would post a round up of images from all of my mantel decor from the past year.
First up is my Valentine’s Day Mantel. After all of the Christmas decorations come down the house feels very empty and sad. So it’s a perfect time to show my mantel a little….LOVE! I kept the colors simple using only black and white with touches of pink. The only thing that made it better is when Better Homes & Gardens featured my Valentine mantel!!!
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Once it was time to put the pink away it was time to put together my Spring Mantel. I crafted a few mossy items to create my earthy green Spring mantel. As always, I kept it pretty simple and tried to make a big statement with the pieces that I choose.
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The weather started to warm up and the beach was calling our names. So I wanted my Summer Mantel to reflect that. I choose to stick with the colors of the sun and sea. The addition of the camera has to be my favorite part of this mantel, not to mention the other vintage finds. It all makes me think of an old Summer cabin at the shore.
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Before we knew it, Summer was over and it was time for back to school. Which meant it was time for a mantel change and because there needed to be a gap filled between Summer and Fall. So my Back to School Mantel was born. It’s definitely the most scholarly of my mantels but there is nothing nerdy about it!
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Once Halloween came around I was itching to start doing some serious holiday decorating! I had a blast creating my Halloween Mantel! I had a lot of fun playing with lots of different textures, heights, and depths. I think my favorite part is the “31” pumpkin, I really like to experiment with using typography in my home decor.
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By the time Thanksgiving came I wasn’t sure if I had anymore great mantel ideas left in me. I felt like I was tapped out….and then some “thanks” pumpkins popped into my head. One idea led to another and my Thanksgiving Mantel was created! The minute…..no…..the second it was done I was in love with it! Part of me wanted to be able to keep it up year round! But the other part of me knew that Christmas was on the horizon.
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Lastly, but most certainly NOT least is my Christmas Mantel. I knew that my window ornament hanger from the year before would be making a return but I also knew that I wanted to improve my red and green mantel from last year. With the addition of some ruffle trees and greenery I think I have found a Christmas mantel I can love!
That’s it!
One year and seven mantels.
I hope that you enjoyed my year of mantels tour!!! Do you have a favorite? I think it would be hard for me to choose! Is decorating your mantel part of your seasonal and holiday decor routine?
Linking up to these great link parties!!!
So many cute mantles…hard to pick a favorite, but I just LOVE your Thanksgiving mantle. Makes me wish I had a fire place 🙂
Such great ideas! I love them. You’ve inspired me to change mine up every now and then. Thanks!
Beautiful mantles…LOVE them!
I wish I would have been able to see all these beautiful ideas while my husband was serving his 20 years in the Navy! Well, he retired 3+ years ago, so we have a permanent home to decorate my heart out. Your Valentine mantle is lovely! Adding you to my google Reader. 🙂
Simply beautiful! I don’t think I can pick a favorite, I love them all 🙂 I wish I had a mantle to decorate 🙁
Such a great post! They are all seriously amazing but I think my favorite two were the Back To School and Christmas ones 🙂 Love Love Love your mantle ideas!!!
Love all your mantel styles. I am always changing our mantel for the seasons and look forward to see what you come up with next.
They’re all so cute, I can’t even pic a favorite! I so miss having a mantle to decorate!
I love decorating mantels (and shelves) too. Yours are awesome! I’m going to ‘pin’ my favorites 🙂
Visiting from Craft-O-Maniac’s linky party 🙂
So cute. I think the yellow and blue beach theme is my favorite 🙂
http://www.myhappilyeverafteragain.blogspot.com
Your mantles are beautiful! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Love the series of a whole year-great mantles!
so cute! love these!
{love} lauryn @ lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com
Love your creative sparkle! Thanks for sharing!
Love your creative sparkle! Thanks for sharing.
Hi There!Each one is so cute! How do you store your paper wreaths so they don’t bend/fold? Thanks, Val
I love your mantels! thanks for the great ideas. i just moved into a new house and have been looking for ONE great piece of art. but why just settle for ONE theme when i can change it up throughout the year.
Do you have a tutorial for your sheet music wreath? Thanks!
this is amazing! newest follower. i’d love if you’d come check out my blog too at http://bishopsfamilysite.blogspot.com/
blessings!
janiene
I am sooooo inspired!!! Gorgeous, I love them!
What color paint is your wall and mantel? Love it!
What color paint are your wall and mantel? Love it!!
Great post, Courtney. I’m linking this post to our Take Six FB page today!! Thank you for the great ideas!
I love your Thanksgiving mantle! How did you get your card stock letters onto the burlap?
I use Mod Podge and it worked like a charm!
I don’t have a mantel but an old fashioned entertainment center and I am going to decorate on top of it. I love all of your mantels and will surely use some of your ideas..Thanks for sharing
I don’t have a mantel but have an old fashioned entertainment center and I will be decorating on top of it. Thanks for sharing…Love all your ideas
I absolutely love your mantels. I can’t decide if my favorite is the one with the vintage camera or Give Thanks… oh darn, and I love the Back to School mantel too. 🙂 Great work! Jen from http://www.migonishome.com
Thanks for the inspiration! I don’t have a mantle either, but I’m going to do this. How long is your shelf and where did you get it? Thanks!
Hi there!! This is one of my most favorite pins of all time! I saw first the Thanksgiving mantle and then I viewed your entire post and each one is so amazing! I would REALLY love to know….no, I HAVE to know how you made the ribbon trees on your Christmas mantle. I have an idea of how I would do it but what did you use for the finial on the top? Will you write to me?? I’m dying to know. I would like to try my hand at something like this but with scrapbook paper. I’m at lpryor1@hotmail.com. I would LOVE to hear from you. THANKS!!!!!! Laura Pryor – Lil’ Inker Designs
I’ve had a mantle for 2 years. It has sat empty and plain the entire time. I absolutly love how you have incorpated the large empty picture frames. I’ve also had those sitting around for nearly 2 years.
THANK YOU for the inspiration to get off my but today and get to work!
Most favorite “pin” ever!
What a creative, clever artist you are! I love every one of these! Thinking of my favorite, I scrolled up and down to pick it…then decided to go the elimination route…and still couldn’t choose since i didn’t want to knock one out of the running! Great job!
all of them are lovely — I like the sheet music idea
They are all delightful and simple……Not all cluttered. Especially love the Thanksgiving one.
I would love to make the white pumpkins like yours in the Thanksgiving mantle. Please advise me:)
Nicole
They are all beautiful! Maybe I need to start changing things out like this. 🙂 I’d love it if you stopped by my weekly link party and linked this post up. 🙂 http://thelifeofjenniferdawn.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-little-bird-told-me-link-party-23.html
Love all of your mantel designs but my favorite is for Thanksgiving – it’s perfect!
Love all of these! Especially love the Thanksgiving and Halloween…two of my favorite holidays! If you have a chance, check out my Easter mantel. I, too, love changing it up!
Love all of them!! Beautiful! Where are your metal candleholders from?