Winter Mantel 2018

I love creating seasonal mantels.

Winter gives me a chance to come up with natural, #rustic tones for my living room #mantel.

With this year’s winter mantel decor…

I used items such as a shipping crate panel, a woven placemat…

a bushel basket lid, a mixed media art piece I’ve been working on…

and I made these cute little berry branch trees.

And of course, I had to add outdoor elements such as the pine cones and cut wood!

I also added some winter wheat and berries to an old milking bucket along side an antique crock.

All those elements created lots of yummy texture that I love!!

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone stays warm this winter…

it’s been a cold one!

 

My Version of a Photo Ladder

Back in the spring… my gracious neighbor gave me these

nice tree branches.

Well… they sat on the back porch for awhile as I contemplated what to use them for.

So back in the summer… when it was like 100 degrees I finally decided to build this.

 

Basically, my hubs cut the pieces I needed and I nailed it together.

IT IS PURELY A DECORATIVE PIECE.

so…

WARNING:

No climbing on this ladder!

After I got it assembled… I didn’t know what to do with it.  I really didn’t have a place or a plan for it yet.

So it sat out on the back porch with me staring at it for months.

And then finally it came to me… a photo ladder and a possible place in the dining room.

So I went out and bought some ingredients I needed…

and then got to cookin’.

All I did next was (after measuring) predrilled a small hole in the branches and photo frames and then screwed in screw eyes.

I had originally planned to use S hooks to link the frame to the steps but because my steps had different heights… it didn’t work out.

So I used hemp string I bought at Walmart a few weeks back.  I actually like it better than the S hooks.

Next,  I painted my photo frames white and then picked out some black and white photos of our wedding and put them in.

I had some berries left over from my White Cradle Centerpiece (Click here)

and just stuck them on.

But wait… I’m not through.

I want your opinion!

My hubby and I cut some pieces of wood from some branches outside.  I had planned to glue them on the photo frame to make it look more rustic.  I used a white wash over them.

Here are some just taped on…

Not sure which way to go??

SO…

what do you think?

With

or

without

the stumps of wood?

Thanks For Stoppin’ By!

Linking to