So…the Christmas decorating is in full swing here at the Den, but for today I’m going to show off my mantel, because I am really happy with how it came out. I’ve been doing the same things every year on the mantel, but this year I picked up glittery candlesticks at Target a while back (as seen in my Thanksgiving tablescapes), and I found a few other sparkly pieces when we went away for Thanksgiving, and I decided to go for an all-out sparkly look.
I made the “Tis the Season” sign myself – I used a metal sign from the crafts store, and I was very thankful that they came in a pack of five, because I discovered something while working on the first one (not pictured) – you can’t erase on metal without leaving streaks! I tried my usual trick of drawing lines and doing my first pass lettering in pencil and discovered that when I erased the lines, extremely visible streaks appeared! Sadness! So I re-did it freehand, and I think (if I say so myself), it came out ok! I’d rather have been able to use pencil, but those streaks!
Most of the rest of the decor was repurposed from other Christmas decorations – I bought the garland with the silver balls at the dollar store (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?) The light-up scene and the beautiful angel/butterfly (I said it looks like a butterfly with an angel in the middle, and JP says it’s just an angel) pictured below were purchased on vacation.
The large balls in the basket were a gift from a friend and I usually keep them on a shelf elsewhere in the living room, but they look nice up here with the sign and some little balls (although you can’t see all three of them that well in this picture, they are more visible in person).
The glass candlesticks, cross, and glasses are up on the mantel year-round – I just moved them around a little. I found some other Christmas things that seemed to fit the theme and moved them in, added a string of rope lights around the back (I love my red living room, but it gets dark awfully quickly) and voila! Here are a few more close-ups, just because I’m so happy with it all!
Please ignore the electrical cord – the lights have to get plugged in somehow!
Hope you’re having fun decorating for the holidays – don’t be scared to try something new this year!