Irish Inspiration: St. Patty's Day Mantel DIY Tips

Hi all!
Thanks so much for joining me this week for some Irish inspiration! Hopefully it's given you some ideas for next year's food, decor, and fun! Today I'm wrapping up our journey with my mantle this year. Here's a quick look back at all of our Irish Inspired fun this week...

Mon: GF Irish Soda Bread & Potato Leep Soup

Tues: Kid-Friendly DIY Wreath

Wed: Toddler St. Patty's Day Gifts

Thurs: St. Patty's Day Crafts with (or for) Wee Ones

Fri: St. Patty's Day Mantel DIY Tips (that's today!)

Again, please ignore our terra cotta walls... we've yet to paint our rental home! This month's mantle is a bit small as I threw it together quickly, but hopefully these tips will help you think a little outside the box when creating your next mantle!

 (1) Re-use
Some of you might vaguely remember these fabric-covered trees. That would be because I first used them a few years ago, in my 2012 Mantel. I shared how to make them in that post too! If you want to change things up each year, you could easily just switch out the fabric on something like this. Try and look at the items you have used before and consider using them again or using them in a new way! These trees are also a great way to use up some fabric scraps!

(2) Cards
This may sound silly, but if you've gotten cards from family or friends, well, use them! They're like mini works of art, so why not include them in your mantel! Use all of them or just your favorites. Another way to use cards- go shopping in your local card store/aisle and pick out a few of your favorites. You can throw them in a dollar store frame and you've got instant mantle-worthy art, or you can add some St. Patty's Day cheer to another room and mount them on the wall!

(3) Fillers
Do you have red and green vase fillers for Christmas? Well, if you know where they are, dig out the green ones, throw them in a vase or cup, and there ya go! Easy peasy! If you have any green candles, perhaps of the evergreen variety also leftover from Christmas, dig those out too and add them to your mantel! Even if you're not in the mood for some pine scents, you don't have to light them- just use them for their green color.

(4) Plants
It doesn't get much easier than this- if you have any houseplants that fit on the mantel (or maybe are already on your mantel!) then they'll fit right in! They're already the right color scheme, and they'll add a great organic touch to your mantel vignette.

(5) Use what you've got
Pull out those extra green votive holders and put them up on your mantel. They don't even need to be filled with anything, or just pop a spring-scented candle in there (just make sure they're not too close to anything flammable!). Again, decor from Christmas might be perfect to use again. Also, if you don't have the perfect vase or nice holder, take a look in your kitchen cabinets and see what you DO have- no one said vase fillers HAVE to be used in a vase! I dug out this gravy boat because it was the perfect size to hold all of my fabric-covered balls that I wanted to use. A green and/or yellow or  white/green/orange bowls would be great to add to your mantel!

I hope I've given you some good ideas to work with the next time you're designing your St. Patty's Day mantel or any of your next mantel vignettes! So many of these ideas are good starting points for any great mantel display. Have a fabulous weekend, friends!
God bless,
Shauna

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today is my first mother's day- yay! Little E is almost 4 weeks old. DH has been very sweet today- picked me up some Starbucks (decaf!), some roses, and I have a new waffle iron coming in the mail! Oh yes, and he's currently taking care of E while I relax a bit :) Love our little family!

So here's the spring/summer wreath that I made last week. I added on the little "mom" banner that I whipped up just using some paper scraps, circle punch, alpha stickers, and Twinery twine. Since I like to be able to reuse my wreath bases, the banner (as well as the pinwheels) are attached with pins!

I also spruced up our mantle a bit for the occasion (kinda looks similar to our Easter mantle, I know!)- super simple stuff since I don't have as much time to craft right now with baby and since some of my crafting stuff is already packed since we're moving to our next Army post in the coming week!

I made a super simple banner for the plant using scrap paper, an SU! punch, some Twinery twine, Memento inks, and a stamp from Unity's April KOM.

I also made some little pennants for the decorative branches using again some scrap papers, Twinery twine, circle punch, and stickers.

Well,  that's about it for now... have a fabulous Sunday and Mother's Day everyone :)

Easter Mantel

Welcome to our "He is Risen" mantel! AKA our Easter Mantel :) With baby ready to arrive almost any day now, I kept the mantel pretty simple... a cross trio, little banner, twine eggs, church photo painted by my MIL, glass cross, and pretty blue jar. On our "secondary mantel" (aka. top of our entertainment center, what we use as our mantel when we're in a home that doesn't have real a mantel) I also have a little crystal bowl with "Jesus" eggs :)
Here's a close up of the banner that I made with just some paper, circle paper punch, sticker letters, twine, hole punch, and two bamboo skewers.
I love my twine from The Twinery and used it to wrap a few pieces of cardboard that I cut out into egg shapes. I hung them from some decorative branches using twisty ties!

The Jesus eggs {below} were super simple too. I picked up a package of 6 kraft eggs, painted a little white spot on the fronts, then added gold stickers. Voila!
Here's some close ups of the rest of the mantel bits and pieces. May you have a truly blessed Easter weekend, and thanks for stopping by! :)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

-John 3:16 (ESV)

Sharing here...

DIY St Patty's Day mantel tour

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

May the luck of the Irish be with you today and the whole year through :)

So! Now that we've got that out of the way, hehe, let me introduce you to my festive mantel! A lot of the ideas you'll probably see repeated in my mantels throughout the year because they're easy to change up! I'm all for keeping it simple, DIY, and reusable ;) So let's get going with the tour...

• Fabric Wrapped Balls- I simply cut out 3/4" wide strips of fabric, wrap them around styrofoam balls, and use a straight pin to adhere the fabric to the ball! Repeat until completely covered and bam! Instant decor :) And so easy to change up the fabric for different holidays/seasons.
• Metal Shamrock- well... it's actually a belt buckle I already had! Love using things for unexpected/unintended purposes :)

• more fabric wrapped balls....
• Framed Fabric- another super simple insta-decor piece! I taped the fabric around a 12"x12" piece of thin cardboard and then put it in the frame. So easy! And again, easily changed out for different holidays and seasons :)
• Fabric Trees- another easy piece. I just pinned strips of fabric around the styrofoam trees, ruffling the fabric as I went. Easy to change out the fabric for the next mantel too!
• Fabric Wrapped Candle- yet again, super simple. I took leftover pieces of fabric, twisted them, wrapped them around the candle, and taped them in the back. Easy to change up too! For the record, I'm paranoid and would never actually burn this candle with the fabric on there... it might be fine, but I would NOT risk it!! So it's a purely decorative candle for the moment :)

• Shamrock Banner- another easy decor piece. I cut my The Twinery twine a few inches longer than my mantel, punched out some shamrocks and threaded them onto the twine about every 3 inches or so. Didn't even tie them or adhere them to the twine, they stay all by themselves :)

This area is actually on top of my entertainment center in the living room, but is another festive area I wanted to share ;)

• Tulle Balls- see them peeking out of the basket there? super simple- I just wrapped a bunch of tulle around three of my fingers, tied a piece of twine around the center of the bundle, cut the loops at the top and bottom, then fluffed up the tulle!
• Festive Branches- let's not forget the branches! I punched out a few shamrocks, looped them on some wire, and hung them on the branches (kinda like Christmas ornaments!). And I tied some fabric scraps onto a few branches too. Easy to do and easy to change up!

And of course a few green candles in the fireplace. It's a working wood fireplace, but being in the south, we've not yet had occasion to use it! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my mantel!! :) Have a fabulous weekend!

Sharing at these parties...

autumn mantel

So this home is the first {and likely last for a while!} time that we've had a mantel!! Usually housing for DH's rank doesn't get fireplaces, so we're relishing in it while we have it :) hehe... anyways, so I'm new at this decorating a mantel thing- but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome! Let me walk you through what I have on it... most of it is frugal or DIY!
So first up we have....

• great glass leaf plates made in Italy :: $3 from The Christmas Tree Shop
• autumn scented candles :: $5 for three, on clearance at Kohl's
• woven basket {always reminds me of apple picking!} :: $2 from Goodwill
• yarn balls- I change out the colors every season :: DIY, so cost just for the yarn and the time to wrap the yarn!
• great crystal bowl :: $16 from Main Street shop in Disney's Magic Kingdom
• framed pumpkin :: DIY, tutorial {here}
• twigs in a vase :: $20 for the various twig bundles, vase inherited from my late grandmother

And on the other side we have...

• glass jar of acorns :: $2 jar from Goodwill, $5 box of acorns on clearance at Kohl's
• candle display :: $1 for bag of beans, $2 for grapevine at Michaels, candle from above mentioned set
• framed leaves :: DIY, tutorial {here}
• fabric wrapped balls :: DIY- fabric strips wrapped around styrofoam balls, adhered with hot glue or straight pins
• more great glass leaves :: again $3 for little one and $6 for big one

We're not currently using the fireplace because it's not really autumn or cold weather yet here in the south! Of course our first home with a fireplace and it may never get cold enough to use it! *sigh* oh well, it still provides a great smell and look- depending on the day, we can often smell the burnt wood that's been baked into the brick over the years :)

• autumn scented candles :: $6 each on clearance at Kohl's
• candle holders :: $6-12 each on clearance at Kohl's

So there ya have it! A little look into our home and our fun autumn mantel :) Thanks for visiting!!

linking up here...

USA mini-banner

U-S-A! Hehe, being a military family, patriotic decor is up year-round. This particular piece I made for Memorial Day and will be staying up until 04 July... if not longer ;) Sorry for the delay in posting- I've been away for my baby bro's high school graduation!

It was super simple (and free! since I had all the materials already floating around left over from other projects) to create... find old frame, remove glass, cut fabric to fit in frame, cut mini banner, attach to twine, affix letter, and voila- instant decor! It's currently residing on our mantel (woohoo! our new home has a mantel! be assured there will be many a mantel decorations to come hehe!)... I'll post a pic of the entire mantel once it's completely dressed up for the season! I started decorating it for Memorial Day, and maybe by the 4th of July it'll actually be complete ;)

And don't forget...

June 15th, this Wednesday evening,

my Etsy shop is re-opening!

and a discount code posted on here

just for you, all my lovely blog readers :D

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:: Linking Up To ::

Just Something I Whipped Up