Blog Parties

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Memorial Day Mantel aka: My First Summer Mantel

Summer is on the horizon. Can't you see it? I sure can.

I know Summer doesn't officially start until the 21st of June. But unofficially Summer starts Memorial Day weekend. And that is this weekend.

So I thought for my first Summer mantel, I'd honor Memorial Day.

Plus, I can stretch this mantel out for Flag Day which is June 14 as well as the 4th of July simply by changing out a few items.


Summer is not my favorite time of the year. It's simply tooooooo hot.


What I do like about Summer is VACATION!!!!! And I am leaving on my first Summer vacation in 2 days. I can hardly wait. I'm going to Utah, to my niece's wedding. It will be great to see family I haven't seen in a year or more.

And next week is my anniversary as well. So hubby & I are staying a few nights in Vegas on the way back to celebrate our anniversary.

Well enough gabbing about my vacation. Better get back to the mantel party.


I picked up this lantern at Ikea last month when I was down in San Diego. I love it!!! I should have bought two. Maybe I'll have to drop by Ikea when I'm in Utah and pick up another one.

I made the fan medallions back in February. I just keep changing out the middle part. I picked up the patriotic stickers from Joann's a few weeks back on sale.

I was thinking about making some just like these. But I know how lazy I can be, so why not buy them instead? So I did.

The vintage white ironstone pitcher was a thrift store find. The flags are from Target's dollar spot. I just added the chicken wire to my frames. You can read all about it here. The blue lantern I've had for probably 20 years. It normally sits on the window sill in the boys bathroom. It's getting pretty rusty now from years of being in a wet climate. I didn't feel too bad when I skinned the books as I only had to pay 10 cents a piece for them.

Here is another fan medallion that I spruced up with a patriotic sticker.

Since the mantel is in honor of Memorial Day, I thought it appropriate to place this flag case on the mantel.


The flag is my hubby's. It is from his Father's funeral. His dad was a veteran and is buried at Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. It's a beautiful cemetery. And it has a fabulous view of the ocean as well.



When we lived down in San Diego we used to visit the cemetery every Memorial Day to place flowers on his father's grave. I love how the Boy Scouts place flags on each of the graves for Memorial Day.

I placed larger flags from Michael's in this thrift store vase.

Here is another of my frames that I just added the chicken wire too. It's great for changing out prints for the different holidays or themes of my mantel.


And another fan medallion with a patriotic sticker.

I printed out this Memorial Day image I found on the Internet. I just googled vintage Memorial Day and clicked on images and wall-la, I found it. Pinned it on with a small clothes pin I found at Walmart in the office supply area. I found even tinier ones in the craft/fabric section.

I got this lantern a couple of weeks ago from Big Lots. It was $5.00. Such a deal. They also had it in blue. But I knew that I already had a smaller blue lantern to use.

I think having a banner makes the mantel look more complete. But I'm too lazy to design my own. Luckily for me, there are those of you out there that like to and are even willing to share with us that don't. And for FREE! How I love you.

I found this freebie at Cakes likes a party blog.

Plus she even gives you a second one for 4th of July. And it's free as well. A 2fer.

Don't you just love free? And don't you just love this banner?

So there you have my first mantel of the Summer. And I know it won't be my last.

I'll be changing it up, ever so slightly for Flag Day and the 4th of July. So you all come back now.




Linking to:



Monday, May 23, 2011

Spring Hutch - "The Birds"

Here is the latest metamorphosis of my china hutch. I call this one, "The Birds".

Did you ever see Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds"? I remember seeing it as a kid. And by the way, what kind of mom takes her kids to see that kind of movie?

Don't worry, it wasn't my mom.

I can't remember when or where I saw the movie, but I remember it scared the bajeezus out of me. I was so scared of birds after seeing that movie.

But luckily, I finally got over my fear of all birds. Except for crows, I still don't like crows, except for at Halloween.

I now love using birds in my decorating.

I've decorated my spring china hutch in a bird theme. Nothing says spring like birdies. In fact, I can hear some birdies chirping outside as I write this post. And of course they stopped chirping the moment I bring it to everyone's attention that they were chirping.

Wait, I thought this was a post about decorating with birds. There are no birds in this photo. But I did add some green balls to some thrift store urns and vases.

Now we are talking birds. I found this bird cage a few years ago at Home Goods. It usually sits on top of the cabinet in my bedroom that I've never shown you. And don't be expecting me to anytime soon as that would require deep cleaning. And anyone who knows me, knows I have an aversion to deep cleaning. I'm allergic to dust people. ALLERGIC!!!

I added some bird finials I picked up last year. I think they came from Michael's. The tin birdhouse I've had for years. It is usually sitting out on the retaining wall in my backyard. It was full of spider webs when I brought it in & cleaned it up. Complete with a live spider. Yikes!

And yes, I did scream when the spider came out of the front hole. I hate spiders!!!! Probably from seeing Arachnophobia. It seems most of my fears come from seeing a movie. Movies can scar you for life.

I kept my hutch in a neutral color scheme. With a splash of green.

The wooden birdhouses are actually Christmas ornaments.

I've had them for probably 15 years.

I still love them. Plus I get double duty out of them. I can use them in the spring and again at Christmas to hang on the tree.


Harold & Maude my Target S&P birdies came back for a little visit. They feel right at home on my hutch.

My newest birdies are Prince William and Princess Catherine. I found them at Michael's a few months back.

And here we have more birds.

This one made a nest in this crown.

And these 2 love birds are also Christmas ornaments from Target.


These are how my apothecary jars usually hang out as. No birds here.


And no birds here either. But I did make this green ball by gluing some split peas to a Styrofoam ball (I guess Styrofoam must be a trade marked name of a company or something as when I use a little "s" spell check tells me it should be a big "S"). It's sitting in a salt cellar that I found at a thrift store.

Another birdie in a nest sits under this cheese dome. Most of my glass cloches came from the thrift store. Or I made them using stuff I found at the thrift store.

Most everything on my hutch came from a thrift store, or I found as a bargain. I'm happy to say that I didn't spend one cent decorating my spring hutch this year. I have so much stuff, that I didn't need to.

And I'm happy that I got over my fear of birds. Well, except for those dang crows. They still scare me. And mocking birds. I don't like them either.

If I see them, I just try to:

Do you have a fear of something after seeing a movie? Do tell.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Latest Mantel Update

I know it's almost time to decorate for Summer, but I had to give my mantel one last Spring transformation.


I added chicken wire to my picture frames. Well, to be honest, I didn't add the chicken wire, hubby did. With a little help from me.


We added the wire to this frame.


As well as this frame.


And this one. I love how it gives the frames some added texture.

Here is hubby stapling the wire onto the inside of the frame. I helped by holding up the frame.

You can see how it was stapled in this photo.


Bent the wire back over the staple.

Now I can hang stuff from the chicken wire, like this rose print.


I love that I can clip on whatever I want to the chicken wire.



I also added a couple of birdhouses and some birds to the mantel.

I picked up a pair of cast iron birdies from the antique mall last weekend. They were 1/2 off.

So I paid $6.00 for the pair. Love them!


These birdies came from Dollar Tree last year or the year before.


The vase on the left came from a thrift store a few weeks back. I paid a buck for it. It has a small chip on the rim, but I don't care.


The small clothes pins came from Walmart. They are perfect for hanging my print from the wire.

I printed this C. Klein rose print off my computer. I bought a CD off eBay about 8 years ago that has a ton of vintage images. I love to print them out & use them in my decor.


This birdhouse came from my wedding reception. It originally was white & lavender. But I painted over the lavender as I needed green for my wedding. My 5th wedding anniversary is coming up in 2 weeks on June 3rd.

This birdcage came from Tai Pan Trading last year. The green book came from a thrift store a couple of years ago and the urn came from an antique store last year on Mother's Day.

I'm not completely satisfied with this mantel, but I'm not going to sweat it. I know I will be changing it up for summer soon. And then there is the 4th of July to decorate for.

I just wish the weather was cooperating. For the past few days, we've had winter weather here in SoCal. Rain & temps in the 60's. But I'm not going to complain, as I know it will be in the 100's soon enough.



Linking to:

Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage