Workin' With What Ya Got- Christmas Mantel Plus Lookie What My Mama Made

So most of my ideas to decorate or create something usually stem from inspiration inside my home. Not to say that I totally don't use inspiration from other sources (blogs, magazines and catalogs) but usually it is something right in front of my nose that inspires me to create something new.

That is the case with my Christmas mantel.

The above book page wreath was made for me by my dear mama!

I love this wreath so much and it means so very much to me for many reasons:

- my mom made it

- it took her weeks to make it

- I could never have had the patience to do this myself

so this gift was much appreciated and will be treasured for years to come.

Anyway, my friend Melissa was over last week and noticed the above wreath hanging on the door to my basement and mentioned how cute it would look on the mirror above the fireplace.

Perfect.

So that finally inspired me to create a Christmas mantel.

Because I didn't have anything but garland on there until December 8th.

Call it a decorating slump or just feeling blah around here for the past few weeks but it sat untouched for weeks and I had no inspiration to work with, nothing was hitting me, even looking at ALL, and I mean A L L of the Christmas mantel ideas on blogs everywhere. Nothing was getting me in the mood to create my mantel which is really the centerpiece in our home.

Because it is in the room with the big TV.

Just keepin' it real.

Here is what I came up with within ten minutes.

Didn't run to the store and drop any money at Hob Lob or DT.
Workin' With What I Got in its purest form:

OK these keys I got last year at Kohl's after Christmas and they were gold at first.

Then I painted them brown. Icky.

Then I painted one of them red for a cool accent project last summer (click fave projects up at the top of the blog to see it) but still had these laying around in their icky brown paint. So I painted them to look like mercury glass Ala Pinterest.

I will show you how to do it yourself at the end of this post!!!

I also painted the stars in the mercury glass fashion.

Already had the garland (from Target five years ago, pre-lit and everything), the PRAY sign I got at Hob Lob a few years ago (they are still there btw).

The stars?

Goodwill two summers ago for just pennies......

I have painted those puppies atleast five or six different colors over the past two years.

The star on the stand at the right is from Dollar General years ago.....maybe six or seven? It also has been atleast six diff colors over the years. I painted that mercury glass style but it didn't turn out as well as the other items.

I took down the hubs and my stockings to put these keys up. They look like keys Santa would have to get in the house, don't they?

Love me some keys and I love that they were originally ornaments for the tree but look like actual keys with this spray paint treatment on them.

Very simple but homey.

I love how the stars turned out even the paint runs look cool and vintage just like mercury glass itself.

Again, did not spend one dime on this mantel.

So here is the beautiful book page wreath that started it all:

It combines all of my favorite elements:

books......

letters and numbers....

and things made by people I love.

:)

So here is the tutorial on how to create mercury glass that I got from Pinterest:

Take some Krylon Looking Glass spray paint and a spritzer bottle of clean water.

 By the way, I got the paint for free!!!

I ordered it on Amazon back in October with rewards points I had so I got it for free.

It is pricey though.....$11.00 for one can.

But if you want to create something cool like mercury glass (which is hugely popular right now and very pricey if already created) $11.00 isn't bad in the big scheme of things.

Here is what you need to do:

Spray the item you are going to paint thoroughly with the water then immediately spray with the looking glass paint.

Let it dry overnight and then repeat until you get the look you desire.

.

Here is what my keys looked like after the first coat.

That's it!!

             Now it may not look exactly like some of the real mercury glass but it is really close and even though you will spend the money for the spray paint (which is over twice  as much as what normal spray paints cost), you will use it over and over so it is worth it.


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