Fall Mantle

My favorite thing about my living room is my fireplace mantle: It's nearly 5 feet long with beautiful trim work. Truly the work of a great craftsman. And since I have such a great mantle, I love to decorate for the holidays with it!

So let's take a look:

The Garland was made by taking a 6 foot long grapevine garland (they sell them all twisted up next to the wreaths at Hob Lob). Using some hot glue, I added in a few leaves from a tattered wreath, some berry picks and ribbon. Lots and lots of ribbon. Once it looked good, I found some Mums on clips and just clipped it to the garland. The construction of the wreath was actually very easy. The hard part was hanging it on the mantle. Since no one in their right mind would nail into such a beautiful mantle, I had to figure something else out. And after much trial and error (think things going BANG/CRASH/BOOM in the night), the best thing I found were 3M Command Velcro Strips. Adhere one side to the mantle and hot glue the other to the middle of a 12" piece of ribbon. Then to hang it, all you have to do it literally tie it on. Sooooo much easier than anything else I've tried.

In order to hide my hubby's toy, I needed something tall. So I found some old glass bottles and added some of Martha's Halloween labels. The white candle pillars came from Target along with the grapevine pumpkin (dollar bin!).

The fabric pumpkins were made from fat quarters (great tutorial here). I made a dozen or so last year and they look awesome around the house. Totally something anyone could make!

And last but not least, our Countdown to Candy blocks. My kids favorite holiday tradition. These are awesomely easy to make (need a tutorial? look here) - and perfect for a craft group activity. I need to give a shout out here to my crafting buddies, because everyone needs someone to make them feel creative. Thanks Girls! You're always there when I'm feeling blah to inspire me to create something beautiful to get me out of my funk. Can I just say that they are AWESOME?!

So I hope that helps you get inspired to create something seasonal for fall. Or autumn. Whatever you may call it!

Hope you like my mantle as much as I do. What did you like best? Anything you hated? You can tell me... I can handle the truth... maybe.

~ Janice