My Sister's Suitcase - Packed with Creativity

Packed with Creativity

Fall Mantel {and no-sew pennant tutorial}

12 Comments

I’m excited to be linking up to the It’s Fall Y’all party over at Layla’s today…. You have to go check out all the beautiful mantels that have linked so far.

When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my fall mantel, I scanned Pinterest and some of my fav blogs for inspiration. I kept being drawn to the same elements… simple, symmetrical designs, and apples! When I think about fall, I think of some of my favorite memories & past experiences. When my hubby and I were first married, I always looked forward to a drive up the canyon to see the beauty of the trees changing color. Cool crisp air, white aspens/quakies everywhere, and the bright hues of red, orange and yellow dancing across the branches…

My inspiration translated to this simple, bright fall mantel scape:

I had fun making my first triangle pennant thingy…. OK, does anyone know the offical name for these things? If so, please share 🙂 I wanted to keep it super simple, so I went through my fabric stash and found this cool nubby, two-sided material. One side is sort of a natural color, the other is a pretty teal blue. I grabbed some paper and made a pattern for my “kite” shape. I wanted to utilize both sides of the material, so I thought it would be cute to have a small little triangle on top (folded over the main piece for the pennant.) Hence, the kite shape:
I cut out 9 kite pieces and then folded them over to see which color combo I liked better, the blue won for the little flap on top, and natural for the bottom 🙂 Sorry I don’t have a picture of these, but here are a few other supplies I used to complete my banner:
  • 9 small buttons (I used some brown and orange ones from JoAnns)
  • 1 roll of jute twisted twine (I only used about 2 yards for the banner)
  • hot glue (there was no way I was going to take time to sew this baby!)
I simply ironed all of the triangle flaps in place, then added a button (hot glue), cut my twine to the desired length for my mantel, then strung the triangles on and added a dab of hot glue to secure the fabric onto the twine! It worked like a charm. I was pretty happy with my first pennant/banner/thingy project 🙂
Once the banner was hung, I created my candlestick “trees” by cutting a few sections of these gorgeous mini maple leaf swags I found at Tuesday Morning {in the Clearance section I might add!} I twisted the ends together and stuck them directly into my candlestick opening. The branches are wired, so they held in place quite nicely. No glue necessary 🙂
This was a productive trip to Tuesday Morning for me… I also found these quaint “Preserves” jars with a beautiful wired handle for only $3.99! I was thinking of making my own, but these were too great a deal to pass up.
I had an idea to hang them as a rustic “lantern” with a white candle in each jar. I couldn’t find any standard pillar candles that would fit inside the opening, so I ended up using a smaller candle and filled in the space with a mix of cinnamon and bambi sticks {from Target, $4.99}. I have plenty of sticks left for another fall project too 🙂
In order to hang my new lanterns, I rummaged through my hubby’s toolbox and found these handy-dandy hooks. They were gold, so I gave them a quick coat of primer and white spray paint so they would blend into the molding above my mantel.
I am not a power tool woman (not YET anyway… I plan to conquer that fear very soon!) so this project was very doable for me 🙂 I just marked where I wanted the hooks to go on my ceiling, and screwed them in — by hand! Easy peezy! Then I tied a piece of thin twine around the jars and through the wire handle, tied a knot in one end, and hooked them up. Seriously, a less than 5 minute project. I’m liking how they turned out… what do you think?
So my final touch is the pop of color… hahaha, well there is already a pretty big pop of color with the turquoise wall, huh? But I like bright colors, so I just had to include the granny smith apples… love the green! I think the simplicity of the apples is actually my favorite part of the new mantel.
I hope you guys enjoyed my take on Fall!
Now get out and enjoy that gorgeous weather before it gets too cold 🙂

I’m linking up to:
The Lettered Cottage Visit thecsiproject.com thecreativepaige.com Momma Hens Coop Funky Junk's Sat Nite Special 52 Mantels

Share this:

Comments

  6. This is the cutest mantel I’ve seen yet! I love how it’s not the norm. Great job. I’m glad you linked up. I can’t wait to see the rest of your projects.

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *