OUR newest addition, a mantel!

This is our newest addition to our family and I am sooo excited about a mantel, yes. . . folks. . . a mantel! (My hubs thinks that is sad). But living in military housing, where all the homes are boring, and bland! This mantel adds so much flare to the room! and I can now hang stockings at x-mas time! YES!
     I went to a antique mall, (honestly I thought it had gone out of business) it was now going out of business, which I hate to see. But, it was the weekend, so went in.
    Always go into places that are going out of business. I got this for super affordable price! $300 off! I only paid $50! It was from a Savannah home from 1918 that was being redone (which is sad!).
     I also bought a box of small antique bottles for $5, and an antique cribbage board (our family favorite game).
     I love the idea of having a mantel to decorate, to add festive holiday home decor. So this will be the series!
   It is definitely summer here. So I used couples portrait, photo of my son, and a marriage license at first, but it was missing something.

Next, I took my son on a "scavenger hunt", got flowers, berries, and funky shaped sticks! I filled a vase with sand, painted the sticks, and filled the small bottles with our treasure.

Last I added green long stem candles to tie the green together!

Then I sparatically placed some bottles around the mantel! and hung some of the twigs.

and voila! My beautiful mantel!  Our newest addition.