Our Christmas Mantel

Hi! This year I'm breaking out a lot of the same Christmas decor I have done in the past - I think that's part of what makes this time of year so special, all that tradition, the memories of doing this same sort of thing year after year - but I'm also trying to add in some new stuff, or move things around, etc.

I love metallics at the holidays. Mantels are a good spot for collections (lots of the same thing grouped together always has big impact)..so for the past few years I've been filling our holiday mantel with some of my mercury glass. And one of my fake garlands, of course. This year I decided to add a DIY banner and some vintage graphics.


This "peace" banner was super easy to make. First I found a nice old school font and printed out my letters. Then I cut them out and mounted them onto metallic copper card stock (I wanted something slightly sparkly and warm to tie in to the copper leaves I've been adding to the green garland for the last few years). I sized the copper card stock to twice the height of the finished banner letters so that I could fold half over the jute twine and then adhere it to itself to keep it in place (I taped the printed letters to the bottom half of the card stock before folding it in half.)

{sorry, when I took these pics we had not decorated our tree yet, just brought it inside. put it in a different spot this year too!}

I also love paper. And its such a versatile medium, you can use it at anytime of the year. Plus I have a lot lying around, so it helps me keep my seasonal decorating budget down! I thought it would be nice to add some vintage images to the mantel as well and I had these mirrored frames (from HomeGoods) that I wasn't using anywhere else. My first thought was old Christmas cards, so I scoured my stash and found this lovely sleigh ride image.


After searching the hundreds of cards I've saved from over the years I couldn't come up with another one that fit my requirements to frame for the other side of the mantel (pathetic, right?) - I mean, it had to be horizontal, the right colors, size, the right feeling, etc. (plus most cards are photo cards nowadays). So I went elsewhere and found this snowy, serene image of reindeer in the woods at The Graphics Fairy that said peaceful vintage Christmas to me:)


I'm loving that its all a nice combination of old and new. What about you guys? Do you switch it up every year or are you a sucker for tradition? Hmm...who thinks having a blog forces us to reinvent our Christmas decorating year after year, ha?!


I'm linking this up to the Holiday Home Mantel Linky Party over at Rhoda's Southern Hospitality today. You guys, there are over 275 mantel posts already linked up! You have to check them out if you get a chance:)