A Mantel for Christmas

I am so excited to be linking up with Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for her 3rd Annual Christmas Mantel Party.

I am so happy to have a home with a mantel and I love to decorate it with the seasons. Every Christmas I do something a little different and this year I wanted a more rustic, woodland, vintage-y mantel even though the room is a Victorian Parlor!

The color on the walls is Cranberry Cocktail and mixes well with muted reds and of course white. The idea for a woodland mantel came about when I saw the all white pine cone wreath on one of the many blogs I visit each week. I had to make it this year for my woodland mantel. I just happened to have the rusty metal snowflake garland to put around it.

I had a lot of the items from years past and then found some new treasures to make it all come together. My snowflake ribbon was a great find at a great country store in a nearby town. The JOY banner was lovingly handmade by an Etsy seller, as was the wonderful muslin tree on the end. The Yule Log was bought at a local church bazaar, made by their youth group.

 

 

My metal reindeer, iridescent garland and glass candle holder go on the mantel every year no matter the theme. The pine cone candleholders add just the right touch. The "snow" is a piece of quilt batting cut to size and scalloped on the outer edge.

 

The parlor is not a large room but it is right in the middle of a long, narrow house so we walk through it to get to every other room. The mantel is the focal point of the room and Christmas is my favorite time to decorate it.

 

 

Hmmm......what should my theme be next year?

AnnMarie xoxo



The links for some of  the great items on my mantel can be found in this post.

I am linking up with:

3rd Annual Christmas Mantel Party

Gathering Christmas Joy for Decorating

Although I have been very good about NOT decorating for Christmas till after Thanksgiving, I have been storing up some new goodies all along the way!

Danielle at Delightful Mom posted this pinecone wreath earlier this Fall and I fell in love. I finally made it, a little bigger to fill the wall above my mantel. I love it's simplicity and pure whiteness! I have pinecones in baskets around my house year round as there is just something about them, so this wreath spoke to me loud and clear..."You need to make me and hang me above the mantel in the parlor!" Since one of my passions is wreaths and making them I had to oblige!

I am going for a more rustic, vintage look this year in my Christmas decorating. I have stored up a lot of decorations over the years to fill up every room in my house but I always find myself wanting to do something a little different every year.

This idea to decorate vintage and rustic started when I saw this 1950's elf at efinegifts on Etsy. There are pages and pages of delightful vintage items and wonderful Christmas decorating items in this shop.

I had been wanting a pixie elf of my own as it sparks a kind of childhood memory in me. The Elf on the Shelf was not a tradition in our house when I was growing up and I had not heard of it when my girls were little so I missed out on that whole thing! I just love the way he looks perched on my kitchen cupboard.

I found this beautiful French inspired, rustic farmhouse tree, handmade by Amy, at ProvencalMarket on Etsy. It goes well in my Victorian pink and cranberry parlor and in my rustic, farmhouse dining room.

I just may have to leave it up year round!

 

Dru at The NestinSLT on Etsy makes these beautiful banners and I just had to have one for my parlor mantel. I chose JOY.

 

 

There won't be any Christmas decorating pictures just yet.....that will be in a future post. I am still gathering new things and planning my vignettes in my head!

 

There is a wonderful country store in Chesire, a small town near Canandaigua Lake in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York. I have to visit every Fall to see what is new and I was not disappointed.

 

I saw this candle holder and was holding it in awe, going through my mind how I was going to afford it and pay for it when my husband saw the look on my face. "You want that?" he asked. I said something like "how can you tell?" and he said "give it to me" and went and paid for it! I was speechless and did not protest! It has been hanging out on top of my wooden truck in the dining room waiting to be placed, probably on the mantel below the pinecone wreath with the JOY banner underneath. That tree to the left is a new find also, a small retro silver tree that I have the perfect vintage silver and ivory ornaments for.



 

Good Old Days Country Store is another wonderful country store in Pultneyville, NY and on a recent visit I found two things I just had to have since they sparked that vintage, rustic feel I am going for.

I found an embroidered snowman runner for my kitchen table. It was more than half off because of a few spots on it which I think add to it's character. And a woven snowflake garland that I just had to have. Still thinking on where I will use it.

And then there are the things I have been picking and thrifting for to sell in my Etsy shop NaNa's Things. I made a little vignette out of some of them for the basket listing and I liked it so much I am leaving it there till it sells or I just have to keep it all for my decorating!

The basket is a suitcase style wicker basket so perfect for a display like this. The kitties are made from c.1800's quilts, the tray is an Avon item from 1983, the tree is a vintage ceramic tree with the green and red speckled and drippy glaze and the Santa head is a chalkware bank. All can be found in my shop.

Tomorrow we go to get our live tree and a wreath for the front door. That is when the official Christmas decorating begins!

Have you started yet?

Or are you all done?!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these great blog hops:

Freedom Fridays with all My Bloggy Friends
Be Inspired
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Pink Saturday
A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
diy Sunday Showcase
Marvelous Mondays
Inspiration Monday
Make It Pretty Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Talking Tuesday