I will bet that a few of you are thinking that you are tired of seeing my mantle. Well, here is the finished Valentine mantle.
Old windows from the garage, chalkboard from the upcoming wedding, silver candlesticks and pedestal from thrifting, string art,toilet paper roll art,ribbon wreath,topiary
I love it! It makes me smile.
I also brought home my chalkboard suitcase to welcome Cupid!
After attending the craft night I came home and looked at my empty mantle with shame. After I took down Christmas, I just never got around to decorating the mantle in our city house. I decided then and there that my weekend trip to the country would involve making stuff for the mantle. I knew I needed something tall. For a few weeks I had been thinking about a string art project and I decided that this would be the project to do the string art. Did you do this back in the 70’s like I did? Am I telling my age? I digress.
Anyway, on the way home from work Friday, I ran by a local hardware store and Hancock Fabrics. I picked up red string and white paneling nails and ocean blue paint. Total cost: @ $ 8.50. I knew I had plenty of wood at Star Hill for the project.
There were enough nails and string left to make at least three more. I may get busy,
Hubby cut the wood for me to length, then I got busy painting. As soon as it dried, I got out the sanding block and roughed it up.
There are three boards here, but you will see two of them in this project. Sorry this shot is blurry.
The Painted Boards Roughed Up
Nails, hammer, pliers in case of mistake…good to go.
I took chalk and quickly drew a heart on two pieces of wood then got busy nailing the nails into the board. It really went fast. I used some of the reclaimed cedar which is very soft. The nails went in quickly.
I tied off the string then just went crazy wrapping it around nails randomly. I love the way that these turned out. I gave one to my neighbor and the other is on my mantle.
My mantle is really wide. Six feet wide, in fact. In addition to the string art, the ribbon wreath and the various things collected around the house, I knew I would need something else. I convinced Hubby to stop in Cleveland on our way to the lake house for more supplies. I grabbed two foam spheres, a dowel rod, and two clay pots. The specifics weren’t nailed down but this would be a start.
I painted the pots bright red, the dowel white and glued it all together. I tried to glue tissue paper in with no luck. I ended up going with silk flowers from the dollar store. I love how they add a little Dr, Seuss type whimsy to the mantle.
This past week I did something that I do not do often enough, I spent an evening with a fun group of ladies. They were all young enough to be my child, but they didn’t seem to mind me joining in. We had a craft night.
My neighbor, Shahana, who invited me over, happens to be a talented young lady I have known since she was a child. She is creative, artistic, and a good cook. I am more than a little jealous of her. Here is a picture of her in front of her mantle.
She had everything ready for craft night. We were making looped ribbon wreaths. Shahana even had our loops of ribbon cut and stitched down onto tissue paper. I really am not sure she sleeps.
The group started arriving and each of us asked Shahana the same thing… “Will this wreath work?” There were foam wreaths, heart shaped wreaths, wire wreaths, small wreaths, large wreaths and one grapevine wreath. Shahana told us all the same thing: ” Sure, it will work fine.”
She was right. They all worked. The trick is wrapping each wreath with left over red velvet ribbon she got 80% off after Christmas.
I loved the colors of ribbon Shahana picked for the wreaths, red, pink, turquoise, and gray. They were wide, narrow, striped, patterned, and textured. The varitey worked! Here is my set:
We plugged in glue guns and got busy. Tear the loops off the tissue then glue it to the wreath. The trick was to try to glue them upright. It took me a few tries but I got the hang of it.
This is a fun project to do with a group. There is not much thinking involved when gluing so there is plenty of time to talk and laugh.
We all had to promise to post our wreath hung in our house. Here is mine, but you don’t get to see where it is hung. I have several projects to show you before I show the finished Valentine mantle.
All the wreaths turned out great.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
