White, Silver, and Burlap Christmas Mantel

After the abundance of our Fall Mantel – appropriate with the theme of Thanksgiving, harvest and all – I was in the mood for a quieter mantel (meaning less cluttered – I don’t think I’ll ever tire of sparkle at Christmas!) for the holidays. Two things I knew I wanted to start with were my collection of mercury glass and lots of lights because it automatically seems festive with lights sparkling on the silver.

But after that? Keep the purple and book-page theme from last year? Hmmm, not really what I want this year, but I needed some inspiration – which I found from Anthropologie this time (must’ve worn Pottery Barn out from all the inspiration I took from the Fall catalog!) in the form of this wreath and garland:

White wool wreath? Cool, cool, cool. $128.00? Whaaaaat? (said while coffee spewed out my mouth…). When will I get old enough not to be surprised by stuff like this anymore? I even had all the stuff already to make the wreath – although a smaller version – and made a 6-foot garland with the leftover yarn. Let’s see… $0 or $38.00 for a garland? Oh, I don’t know…

I’m happy to say it’s SUPER easy, too, and although it’s not quick – I’m not gonna lie – my daughter and I were able to finish them up while watching a movie. Of course I’ll have all the nitty gritty details up soon for you, because best of all I found the supplies at the thrift store!! UPDATE: Click here for the complete tutorial to make the pom poms plus the wreath and garland!

Once I decided on the white, silver and lights, it was an easy jump for me to add the burlap – you know, to get that rustic vs. glam look that’s so popular now. Here are the parts that I’m highlighting:

• The lighted branches in the corners of our bookcases. I cut the branches from a lilac bush and they are just right for branching – not too big for the space, but still have a lot of interesting little branches. I filled the urns with rocks to weight them so they wouldn’t topple over and then covered the rocks with burlap. The burlap also works to hide some of the light wires.
• The burlap ribbon along the bookcases. It ties in with the wreath hanger, but mainly covers the electrical cords without me having to add more stuff there – perfect since I was wanting less clutter.
• I filled the little vintage mason jars with epsom salts and candles and then tied jute twine around them, as well as some of the other candles.
• The stockings are some I made a few years ago using vintage linen and embroidery – I love them and we actually have a few to choose from. This year we added the jester style just for fun.
• Oh, and I’m not done with the bookshelves – I’ll be adding boxwood sprigs to the white pottery and urns for sure. I may replace some of the pictures with the little hand painted houses we used along the top last year.

Since I will be using our book page ornaments on the tree and elsewhere, I wrapped the candles with pages and hung the book page bird ornaments from the lanterns. It’s just enough to tie in, but not too much.

And isn’t that garland just the sweetest thing? Makes me smile.

What theme are you going with for your Christmas decorations this year?