The one with the Thanksgiving Mantel....

Happy Day, Everyone!

Today I am sharing photos of my Thanksgiving mantel which was inspired by lots of blog-hopping and Pinterest perusing.  It is the first time in ages that I have decorated  my mantel for Thanksgiving, because I am usually in a big rush to get Christmas crafting done.  This  year, I decided to make some time for Thanksgiving.

 

I was inspired to use a monochrome palette and vintage items for this display.  It gives me a nice visual break between the bright colors of Halloween, and the rich colors of Christmas.  I pulled from my collection of ironstone and creamware pitchers, my recently growing tinware stash and put the brass candlesticks from my Halloween display to use, as well.  The frames were pulled from the basement dusted off and put to use.  Pretty thrifty, eh? 

 

 

This ironstone pitcher was a gift from a dear friend.   The wooden box is a fairly recent antique store find.  I love that some of the type is still there.  It is from an optometrist shop, and has dovetail joinery and a working slide lid. 

 

 

I made this banner with paper from my stash and my digital cutter.  I added stamping from a Bo Bunny harvest set that I purchased on clearance over the summer, and vintage book page scraps leftover from another project.  I love using my scraps, especially when the vintage ones.  As usual, I used lots of Distress Inks here. 

 

 

You may recall seeing these tins mixed in with my skulls on my Halloween sideboard display.  I simply moved them over to the mantel, brass candlesticks and all.  The creamware pitcher was lifted from my bathroom, and the antique books were a terrific find at the recycle center.  (yes, I occasionally "pick the dump", much to my mother's dismay! At least I don't gift it to you, Mum!  LOL!) 

 

And finally, my favorite piece of the season:

 

 

I absolutely love this piece so much that I may have to decorate a room around it after Christmas.  The board, the newspaper and the bent hat pin are "attic treasures".  (This is when I comb my parents' attic for useless junk that I can turn into "art".)  I found the Thornton Wilder quote earlier this fall, and love it so much that I have already used it twice.  The calendar page and tag are also attic finds, but I photocopied them onto cardstock, so that I can use them over and over.  I have a hard time gluing original ephemera onto my pieces.  (the newspaper here is the exception.  I have a pretty large source of it, and don't mind using it once in a while, especially if I have already scanned it.)  The feather was given to me by a bird hunting friend.  The book spine layer a the bottom peeled off when I removed the covers from the books at the other side of the mantel.  It was still sitting in my scrap bowl, and was perfect for this piece. The bottle cap is not vintage, but I bet I could find some like it in the attic!  It is from a bottle of vanilla.  I stamped it with a number 4 from the Tim Holtz Little Labels stamp set, using Distress Paint.  The word "bountiful" was stamped with a cool alphabet set I found at a discount store.  I have no idea who the manufacturer is. The ink is Archival, either Coffee, or Wendy Vecchi's Potting Soil. 

 

If you're still here, thanks for sticking with me through what is, for me, a very long post!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

 

Elizabeth