This Ol' House Thursday....A Little Valentine Mantle LoVE!

This fireplace is one of the reasons I married my husband.  Joking aside...I LOVE it!  When we were first dating and I saw this farmhouse and the brick (the back of this is brick and a full wall in my kitchen...I KNOW!)

But...it is January and after the EXPLOSION of Christmas decorations are packed up....my mantle, looks...um...boring?  I have been clearing the clutter EVERYWHERE else...so, I was just living with a boring mantle.  My oldest and I had a project during the little one's nap!

Boring Mantle Makeover...Valentine LoVE!  No sewing, no measuring (WHAT??)...just grab what you have and go.  Keep It Simple Sweetie!

What you need:

Twine, string...yarn...whatever!  I have this HEMP twine...bought it at WalMart and love it.

Burlap...just enough to make the banner cutouts.  Just cut how many you want...(we did five...I am weird about odd numbers) into whatever shape: rectangles, squares...or pendant like ours.  I didn't een measure..."gasp!"

Grab your glue gun (I said no sewing...easy!) and scissors.  Notice the labeling on mine...DO NOT use mom's fabric scissors on anything else in this house!  

Scrap Fabric...yep, use what you have!  I was talking to my friend yesterday she said she didn't have any fabric (WHAT???)  I told her to grab an old sheet, pillow case or an old baby outfit (AW!) and save the rest for other projects  Problem solved!

Can you see how I just set the twin on the burlap?  Then I hit it with some hot glue gun glue...folded it over and sealed it, making a little tube around the twine.

Next:  take your scrap fabric (or whatever you found) and my four year old cut out hearts.  Okay...I helped her a bit!  Glue them on with your glue gun...and press them down.  I love my assistant's chubby little hands!  (YIKES...she needs a manicure today!)

Simple and sweet...rustic and handmade.  Fits my home perfectly!

The scrap fabric we used...matches our Valentine's Day pillows on the couch...

The rest of the mantle was honestly a "let's see what we have around here to doll this mantle up a bit.." project.  I have a reeeeeaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyy   long mantle...it's almost like two!  So, I had to get over the "nothing is centered" issue I had.  Who cares?  It gives me more space.  Maybe you have an awkward space...center what you can and then use the left or right side to create another focal point.

On this side...I balance with things I found around the house (shop your OWN house, right?)  We found pictures, candy jars (yes, the M & M's are getting low!) and a candle pillar found in a cabinet in my office.

That chalkboard is an old picture frame with a picture of a fisherman (I painted right over it with chalkpaint...) and my sister made that candy dish!

These two canvases were shoved in the top of the girls' closet (old project...I didn't like once I started it.)  The pink one was pink...so, I just stenciled LOVE right over it in white and voila!  The red and white stripe...was a yellow and white stripe.  Easy to fix...



I taped over the white part, leaving the yellow exposed.


Covered that in a good coat of red acrylic paint.

Here is the stencil...white paint and that's it!


I like things different heights ad sizes...so, I grabbed an extra cookbook holder and put the red and white canvas displayed on it.  I set a picture from our wedding day in front...cute!


That's it!  Just scrounged around my house and used what we had.  No money spent...but, we will need to head to the store for more M & M's!  This definitely is NOT the fanciest mantle...but, my four year old and I did it together.  That, my friends is the most important part of this project.
 I hope you tackle a project soon...sure feels good!

Love & Junk~

Julie

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