Christmas Mantle 2013

    Hi friends.  Thanksgiving 2013 is in the books and now onto the mad Christmas rush.  We celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother Matt's home near the Twin Cities.    It has become our family tradition.  This year Matt and his wife Bridget hosted 45 guests.  It's busy, loud and lots of fun!  Oh did I happen to mention I have a very large family and that my brother has a heated and very beautiful 3 car garage that they are able to set up in.    Now onto my Christmas mantle.  I found this very old window frame  and decided to clean it up and take it from there.   I already had everything I needed to decorate it with in my Christmas stash.

I wanted some new stockings that had a rustic, cozy and country Christmas feel to them.  After looking at how expensive the ones I wanted were,  I decided I would just make my own.   The front of the stockings have a burlap cuff and the back are made of felt. I found the patchwork looking fabric for the front's on clearance, and I knew right away it was just what I was looking for.

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Thanks Debbie @ Confessions of a Plate Addict for providing an easy to follow stocking tutorial.

And my favorite shot with a nice cozy fire going.  
Some of the details:  My frame was free!  The child skates and old wooden box were $2 garage sale finds. The stockings cost about $3 each to make. The berry wreath was an after Christmas sale and it was only $2 . The cute reindeer was purchased a few Christmas's ago at Pier 1.  I think they still have them.
Everything else was already in my Christmas stash.
So next up...finding that perfect Christmas tree.

joining

Met. Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Inspire me Tuesday @ at Stroll thru life

Tweak it Tuesday @ Cozy Little House

The Scoop @ Confessions of a plate addict

Burlap and Red !

Hi friends.

I've been a bit stuck in the winter doldrums and oh so tired of my winter mantel look.  And yet a really springy look wouldn't fit yet with the piles of snow outside my window.
So I tried my hand at a burlap wreath.  I had been wanting to for such a long time and when I found this red/check ribbon I thought why not.
Well it's easy according to other's but not so much for me.  Burlap is a bit messy and it took me awhile to get the hang of the weaving and looping.
However I think I rather like it and the red adds a pop to my mantel.

I shopped the house and a little thrift store for more pops of red.
The only new to me things are the little bird house and the red planter.

And the cute little red clock!  Actually my hubby whipped this up so that he could show his Exploratory class one of the options they have.  This class is mainly made up of Freshmen students and they build more of a beginner project.  They only have 4 weeks so it needs to be done fairly quickly. 
He is going to add something extra around the face of the clock too.

If you live at Applestone Cottage you need to have an apple box!
I bought this quite awhile ago when it was on 90% clearance.

A thrift store birdhouse and my little white birdie.

A red planter and a few other accessories for a little more pop.

 I looked all over the Internet for tutorials on making a burlap wreath.  Let me say there is no shortage but some are easier to follow than others.
The one I like the best is here
The pictures and tutorial are pretty easy to follow along.
If your like me you will sit right by your computer screen with burlap and wreath in hand until you can get the hang of it.
So that's my burlap wreath tip...just give it a try, my total cost was about $11.50 for material, wreath and the big heavy ribbon.

Have a great week everyone and just so you know, I am currently mad at that little Chicago groundhog who said we would have an early spring. 
I am joining a few fun blog parties.
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Tabletop Tuesday
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Tips and Tutorials