OH Deer

As promised here is the post about the recent deer artwork that I made for our mantel. It is really an easy piece to make, and you can size it accordingly. Maybe make one for yourself and one as a gift, because faux deer heads are all the rave right now. :)

So here are the supplies that you will need:

• A canvas, you can choose the size. Or I used scrap boards and painted them white, and had my husband attach them together from the back.
• Pencil to sketch out your deer head
• Paint color of your choice
• Scrapbook paper
• I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the flower shapes and the Joyeux Noel. I use my machine often, it really comes in handy. Maybe if you don't' have one, you can ask Santa ;)
• Paint brushes
• Glue and double sided tape

I painted my boards white, if you are using a canvas, this is not necessary. Then I sketched a deer head on the board. I did this free handed, with a pencil and eraser. Feel free to look for a downloadable stencil if you do not feel comfortable just drawing by hand. Silhouette has some great designs to download. 

Once I felt like I had all my proportions correct, I then painted my deer gray. Feel free to paint your deer, whatever color will work with your decor.

Next I used my silhouette cameo to cut out the words Joyeux Noel. You can find that design here.

 I used good old Elmers glue to glue it to my board. Next I used my cameo again to cut out flowers in various colors. You can find that here. It made it so easy to cut and assemble the flowers, and I love paper flowers, you can get really creative with your colors, and they never need to be watered. ;)

 I used double sided tape to assemble the flowers into a crown on the head of the deer. It was really simple to do. And there you have it! My artwork is displayed on a mantel in our master bedroom. I really love the whimsy it adds.

Hope you feel inspired to make one for yourself. Happy Holidays, see you back here soon.

XO~Gretchen

Holiday Mantel

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. It certainly is a busy time of the year. I spent some time this weekend and worked on our holiday mantel in our master bedroom. I've been dreaming of having a mantel in our bedroom for some time now. I didn't think I wanted an actual fireplace when we built, just a fun mantel to decorate. My husband and I decided to take a trip downtown to a local Architectural Salvage store. We walked through many rooms filled with all kinds of antique treasures, from old door knobs, to trim pieces, several different gorgeous old hand carved mantels, but they were huge. I wasn't looking for anything grand, just a quaint fireplace surround with character, and an extra bonus if it had an arch. We were instructed to look outside too. Low and behold, there it was, the perfect fireplace surround that I had envisioned in my head. My husband and I were both excited, sometimes things are just meant to be. This is an old iron fireplace that had been painted over, and sitting out in the weather, so it was going to need some TLC. I was certainly up for the challenge. Here is how it looked when we found it.....

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the top was filled with rust spots since there were all kinds of metal rusty pieces sitting on the top, and it was just plain dirty. So with a scrub brush, and some cleaner I was able to clean it up and here is how it looks now in our bedroom...

I styled the center with old vintage books, something I've been collecting for years. The artwork I made, and I will have a DIY post about it, later this week. So grab you some boards, or a big canvas will work too. The garland I also made, it's my twist on the popular tassel garland design. I will also have a separate blog post showing you how to make this, so collect some ribbon and yarn. :) Everything else came from shopping around my own home. I really do love this mantel, it makes our room seem so cozy and charming. I told my husband that I feel like we are at a bed and breakfast every night now. Mantels are my favorite thing to decorate, I think if we ever build again I may have to add one to every room. ;) 

Hope you feel inspired to decorate your mantel, or a bookshelf, or furniture piece. These are all ideas that could easily be incorporated. Stop back by later in the week to get those tutorials on how to make the deer sign, and the garland. Have a blessed day!

XO~Gretchen

Vintage inspired Christmas mantel

Do you ever decorate on a wing and a prayer? Well that's what I did this year for my mantel. I had all these ideas swimming around in my head, but how in the world was I going to make it work? Originally I was going to go with creams, golds, silvers, and of course a little aqua, but I had been eyeing these stockings from Anthropologie, so I was inspired to add a little more color. I thought about making something similar myself, but since the entire store was 20% on Black Friday, I opted to purchase them. I am so glad that I did. They are made really well, and I love the wool and pom poms they used to make them. So I started by hanging the stockings. Luckily, I had just made a pom pom garland for a christmas card photo shoot, in the color scheme of aqua, cream, and red. I added the garland, but felt like I wanted another layer. I dug through my Christmas decor and found this cute tinsel garland with snowmen, and snowballs on it. I had found it at TJ Maxx a few years back. Never underestimate reusing decorations you might already have on hand. The only "new" purchases for my mantel this year were the stockings, and the amazing vintage pipe cleaner wreath. I found the wreath antiquing with my mom, and I love how it looks against the frame. Everything else I already had. :)

The chalk art sign took some time, and some "do-overs" I looked for inspiration on Pinterest for the lettering. There is some really amazing chalk art out there. I wanted to chose something fairly easy, and simple. JOY to the WORLD is one of my favorite Christmas songs, it is the reason we celebrate the season. I usually keep this chalkboard in my studio, and keep an inspirational phrase written on it, but brought it out for my holiday mantel this year. All the "fluff" on the side is stuff I have collected over the years. I am definitely one of those people that if something really speaks to me, than I purchase it. I may not have a place in mind for it, but I will eventually find a spot. I love my little vintage plastic Santa. The silver trees I had purchased a few years back at Hobby Lobby, I'm sure they have something similar again this year. The bottle brush trees, I have been collecting for years. You can make your own version, just check out this blog post I wrote about it. I have also been collecting the open frames while out antiquing, and I just painted them all aqua, of course. The vintage globe I found this summer, and I adore it. I thought it was appropriate since my sign said "JOY to the WORLD." So as you can see, things just started to naturally come together. I like to get all my decorations out, so that I can see what I have to work with. I suggest, coming up with a color scheme, and just running with it. Think outside the box, and have fun with it. I really love our mantel so much this year, I find myself sitting in our family room at night, enjoying every element of it. Hope you feel inspired to create a mantel or book shelve in your nest this year. I'll be back soon, with other Christmas decorating ideas, until then...

XO~Gretchen