Give Thanks Mantel {Updated}

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:00:32 +0000

It’s crazy to me that I created my Give Thanks Mantel 4 years ago. I love it just as much today as I did the day I put it all together. Although it has evolved a little bit, so that is why I wanted to do a little post update on it!

Well one of the biggest and most obvious changes is my current mantel! At our last home we lived in military base housing and we literally had a shelf above an electric fireplace. I wasn’t complaining though because prior to that there was no shelf. There was no fireplace. So that little shelf was a step up for me. Since then we have moved. Again. We bought our very first home and it has a huge fireplace and mantel.

I added a large 9 pane old window to the back of all the mantel decor. Now that my mantel decor is on this larger more impressive mantel, it needed something to make the set up stand out more. It needed a larger presence!

I am kind of amazed that all these years later, I still love my Fall Mantel. Usually my attention wanes and I get board of certain decorations. My taste evolves and I refresh. This one is still perfect 4 years later!

I can’t imagine ever wanting to change my Fall Give Thanks Mantel, but I’m sure the day will come. Until then I will just enjoy it’s warm neutral colors, different shapes and textures, and just general beauty!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Last week I shared my tutorial for this beautiful DIY Faux Framed Chalkboard. If you too aren’t the greatest with free hand writing but you love the look of chalkboards, this is the project for you!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

{Give Thanks} Mantel

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:00:00 +0000

I’ve got all of Halloween put away and the kids have forgotten about their buckets of candy for the most part! So for a few weeks we get to settle into Fall. There is a chill in the air now and the leaves have changed color. Well, the one tree in our neighborhood that changes color has! It is California after all!

The past year has been a rough one for my family but I try to make sure to be thankful for what we do have. So I decided to create a mantel to remind us to always Give Thanks!!! I wanted the whole mantel to be in warm neutral colors, covered with different variations of browns. Lots of different textures and finishes!

I started out with a bunch of dollar store pumpkins that I hadn’t used yet. They were all awful looking and needed a paint job stat (I think I must of picked the worst ones that they had). I grabbed my Heirloom White spray paint and gave them a facelift. Then the stems got a coat of brown craft paint.

I wanted to spell out the words “THANKS” on the mantel and decided using the pumpkins was a great way to do it! I didn’t have any brown vinyl so I decided to just cut out some brown cardstock with my Cricut and decoupage the letters onto the fronts of the pumpkins. I think it worked out perfectly!!!

I made the pennant banner out of burlap and strung it up with some twine. I used the same dark brown cardstock that I used on the pumpkins to create the “GIVE” on the banner. I tied the banner to a rough barn wood picture frame, I love the color and texture of it!

For some reason I thought that 6 pumpkins weren’t enough for this Fall mantel and it needed just one more. I used a craft pumpkin from Michael’s and painted it with the same Heirloom White as the smaller pumpkins. I placed it on top of an old rusty scale that I found in one of my treasure hunts. Love all the rustiness!

Last year I picked up this bundle of wheat at the commissary (that’s the grocery store that’s located on a military base, for you non military folks). Over a year later and the bundle had begun to fall apart, so I used a dark brown satin ribbon to tie it all back together.

I grabbed one of the many cream pitchers that I have lying around this house and put the wheat bundle in it. I placed the pitcher on top of a couple old tattered books. You also may notice that little ruffle there, it’s a strip of ruffled burlap that was leftover from another project. I just thought it added more texture and softness to things. Who couldn’t use a little bit of ruffle here and there???

I had that dark wood frame hanging around in the garage waiting to be used. I picked it up at a garage sale for a couple bucks and figured that I would paint it. I’m so glad I didn’t! It looks perfect up on the mantel in all it’s brown glory! I have to say I always have several picture frames just lying around at any given time waiting to be used in some way.

For not really knowing what I wanted to do with my mantel this Fall I think it turned out quite……awesome!!! I am SO in love with this whole thing!!! I absolutely LOVE how it all turned out!!! Can’t you tell by all the photos I took of it? There’s nothing wrong with doing a little photo shoot with your mantel is there? Well if there is, I don’t want to be right!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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While your here I’d love if you’d stop by Time to Shine Tuesday and link up what ya got!!! Or just stop by and check out all the awesome link ups!

Thanksgiving Mantel – A Diamond in the Stuff

Give Thanks Mantel {Updated}

{Give Thanks} Mantel