CREATING A NATURESCAPE MANTEL & DIY VASE

Since I started blogging nearly a year ago, I have noticed an interesting change in how homeowners discuss how much they are spending on decorating. It used to be we didn't discuss prices, but that has certainly changed. Today, with so many DIYers, vintage thrift shoppers, and stores like IKEA, we all feel proud what we have done on so little! I like this new trend.....its fun, rewarding and let's face it, we all love to save money!

On the heels of saving money.......I have been laboring with how to decorate my fireplace mantel for Spring, quite honestly, by not spending a lot of money. I am all about recycling and reusing items by changing up their location.

I tossed around the ideas of colorful twigs, big urns to anchor and loads of other things. Of course I went to Pinterest and perused their pages of ideas, but nothing hit me. Then I was in JoAnn Fabric the other day and I found a small print that was very simple. It had ferns, a butterfly and some lettering painted on it. That was all I needed. I bought the print and built the mantel starting with my new little fern print. It reminded me of the woods when I was a kid where the ferns grew wild......hence my mantel theme was born.

I decided to make vases to incorporate into the theme using jars. Since I have already mod-podged and sprayed jars, I needed to try something else. I headed to Dollar Tree and found this cool lime green and white stripe clothesline and decided to wrap each jar with it. The color was great and would blend in nicely with the existing greens I was using.

Materials needed:

•  Thin clothesline or twine (Dollar Tree) (My 3 jars took one spool of clothesline.)
•  Elmers or Fabric glue
•  Glue gun
•  Old jars of various sizes

Instructions:

• Unwind clothesline
• Dab one spot on the very top of the jar edge with hot glue
• Start applying the clothesline by pushing the end of the clothesline into the hot glue (Make sure it is secure before moving on.)
• Apply Elmers or Fabric glue around each line pushing together the clothesline tightly so that there is no gap between rows. It is necessary to make sure you have enough glue on each line to keep things secure. The glue dries clear, so no worries about getting spots.
• At the bottom of the jar as you near the end, dot it with the hot glue just as you did in the beginning.

It's that easy.......aren't they the cutest? 

  NATURESCAPE MANTEL

To complete the mantel I needed something a little larger on both ends to anchor the vignette. I brought out 2 of my Ethan Allen pieces from years ago, filled them with moss from the Dollar Tree and ivory flameless candles that I had in my entertainment stash. I love the way they flicker in the evening light. 

I also needed some flowing fern like vine that I found in JoAnn Fabrics to ground the picture.

At first I wasn't sure I would like all different shades of green on the mantel, so I added just a bit of color by using fresh flowers in the color of purple and white and that was just enough for me.

I'm really happy with the final results. It's quite simple and was so inexpensive. Why not look around your house to see what you have, re-purposing is so much fun. I love new perspectives on old objects. Is it time for you to freshen something in your home?

I hope you have enjoyed watching me build my new Naturescape Mantel. Well see you Foodie Friday for some heavenly deliciousness!

Until then--Happy Creating!

Kathleen

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