Monday, May 25, 2015

Patriotic Mantel


I have had more fun with my mantel this year! My blog-friend Elise mentioned something about "vintage patriotic" in a message to me recently and I got the bug to update for summer! I don't know if I've thought of red/white/blue as a summer theme lately - how could I have forgotten how much I love these colors together and the theme was super fun to work out.

First of all, I shopped my house. I spent absolutely ZERO on this! Also, a quick note - I usually try to time my posts a little better as far as getting this up before Memorial Day and getting this up after you see me working on it in my Slow Day post {which won't be shown for two more days!} but this is just what worked this time - hope it is not confusing.

The first thing was to make a new fabric garland to hang from the mantel. I made the first one for Easter a couple of years ago and have loved having it there so much. It adds some lovely color and texture to this space and looks terribly bare when I take it down. I pretty much left the Spring one there for over a year and then made a new one this past Fall.

A quick rummage through my fabric and scraps yielded enough red/white/blue and gray to pull this off. It was very close knowing if I'd have enough - but it turned out! Rachel gave me a huge hug and thanked me for doing something special for "her season" since her birthday is in the summer. Oh my heart.








Links to free printables I used:
Garland hanging on chicken wire memo board
Patriotic Fans
Freedom Chalkboard Garland

My Summer Pinterest board here has lots more fun ideas!

Vintage post: A Blessing of Thanks for Memorial Day

5 comments:

Shelby said...

Oh how I love the patriotic theme and I'm sure your father n law would have loved this. So proud to be an American. Those colors never get old with me. Amazed that you shopped your house for all of the items. You have a gift:)

Sheri said...

Wow, I absolutely LOVE this!!!

Mom said...

So cute - and I love it that you created all of this with things you already had! :)

Elise said...

I LOVE it, Monica!!! I need to dig out my patriotic box of goodies, and get to decorating! One of my friends is coming over tomorrow to craft and I cannot wait to make some summer décor.

Abbi said...

So fun!