Christmas Mantle 2012

 Well, I finally brought all the fall down from the mantle...it was a little sad...but I threw on some Christmas tunes and went to work. I stripped the mantle completely down to the mirror. I keep thinking I'm going to try my Mom's mirror over the mantle for a change but I just love the round one so much, I never do.

 Since I'm trying to keep it plain and simple, this is what I came up with. The rustic lanterns (you might remember seeing one of these in THIS tablescape) are one of my favorite elements. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted them for my Christmas mantle...and lanterns just say comfy-cozy to me.

 I haven't even started on the tree yet, in fact I'm not even going to talk about the tree yet....we'll talk about that as soon as I get it decorated.

 Do you remember when Justin made my 'Fall' letters? See the tutorial HERE. He made me a 'Noel' while he was at it...well, he made an N, E and L and I thought it would be rather fun to come up with an abstract O. I tried a few things before I remembered this tree topper, a moss ball, one of the twig balls...but I thought the more light the better.

 For the arrangement, which is my favorite element, I used the vase that I recently sprayed black (I used it last for Halloween, take a look HERE). You might not think of black with Christmas, but I thought it was ok with the room as a whole. Branches and long needle pine with some snowy branches to tie in the white.

 Inexpensive snowflake garland hung across the face of the fireplace.

 Egads, it looks a little Vanilla...but decorating the tree will help bring in some color.

 I'm sure I'll do some tweaking as I get further along.

 It is a lot different from last year's mantle, no ladders involved or massive swag over the mirror....but I do like it.

 Evening shots:

 See? Doesn't it just make you feel warm and fuzzy? :)

 I hope you are inspired!
Joining Layla

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Thank you for all your love and support in my last post, I really can't express how much your words encourage me and help me keep moving forward! I'm so glad I'm not alone.

Harvest Gathering Tablescape

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Justin to build me a table. At my house such requests are common...Another example of one of my 'little ideas' that I can come up with, but need him to execute and build, you know, cause I have no upper arm strength *ahem* and you are so much better at math than I am *cough*.
The idea was to build a table for product shots (for Etsy), as well as a place to hangout outside and of course for tablescapes. I wanted something very rustic, weathered and simple. I knew that his dad had stacks of old Ponderosa Pine lumber sitting in an outbuilding that I thought maybe we could use. So we went to take a look. Now the lumber has been sitting in this building for 15+ years, they salvaged it from an old church from what I understand, Lord only knows how old it is. 12 inch wide and 16 feet long, beautiful old wood. And we only needed two boards, 5 2X4's, and 4 4x4's, and a table was born.

Here is what the top looks like with all the worn spots and stains, just perfect in my opinion. Now I'm on the quest to find at least 8 mismatched chairs to go around it.
I really loved how it turned out, and I see lots of fun things happening around this table!

So that is how the table was born, so on with the tablescape.

I really love the centerpiece, it's in some kind of galvanized tray thing, some of the 'junk' that I found at Barnyard Days last weekend. I filled it with pumpkins and pinecones and bittersweet. It's probably one of the lowest centerpieces I've ever done, but the sheer mass of this is really striking.

Very simple place settings, nice heavy stoneware plates on burlap placemats with fringe detail. I made these placemats and hope to get some listed for Etsy soon.
Mismatched yet coordinating napkins and rings

This pumpkin tureen was a find from last year, I love it.

The dessert plates and coffee mugs are a recent thrifty find. They are Desert Breeze from Mikasa, I got them for a steal. I love the matte mocha finish and the crackled inside, looks very fallish to me.

Small leaf plates hold flatware but doubles as a bread plate

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you are inspired!

Linking with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality