A Christmas Mantel

We won't be in our home for Christmas this year.  Our little two bedroom cottage is being extended and we are staying with family or house-sitting while Blake works his fastest to complete the reno.  I've been missing our own space for the past couple of months, missing my home and its imperfect style, my place to create and play, and be at rest.

And I miss my mantel! A mantel is just the most fabulous blank canvas for christmas decorating, and its a central spot all year round for decorating fun depending on your mood or the occasion.

Well, The Lettered Cottage (the first blog I ever loved) is having a christmas mantel link party and I thought I'd link up with my mantel from last year just for fun.

We'd been in this house for just under a year and after we knocked a hole in the living room wall to assess the old fireplace behind it we realised we were going to have to build a whole new one, mantel and all! Oops. Thankfully my sister and hubs had just bought and an old character home in Geelong to open her project, The Birth House and they had a few too many (seriously!) beautiful old fireplaces and we scored one!  

So it went from this (at the original house)....

To this (in our home).......

To this! (thanks Josh & Jenna from The Block for the wall paint colour idea).....

A few months later it was November and my Christmas creative craze began....

 I made these white trees with white wool (yarn) wound around cones made out of paper, and the little stars with twine and glue make it firm.

 The felt ball garland I made by threading the balls onto embroidery cotton (  I wish I could say I hand-felted them)

 I created the Nativity scene out of MDF wood and a vintage copy of 'The Christmas Story' Little Golden Book.

 The wreath I made from plumbers tubing from Bunnings, masking taped the ends together and stuffed wet, scrunched paper in the hollow to (try) to stop it from being floppy (NOT something I'll be doing again, its easier to pay the extra $4 for the polystyrene ones from Spotlight) I wound twine around it, added some lace and found some vintage baubles from the Oppy/thrift shop in the right colours and finished it off with some white felt flowers I'd already made.  

Meanwhile over in our tiny dining room I suspended a branch to the ceiling, attached flowers I made from old lace curtains and hung from it a little 'hope' (my favourite word).

xoxo