If you’re like me, you don’t mind Christmas but you detest the kitschy tacky decorations. Even though red and green are complimentary colours, they are just not my favourite colour combinations. I mean, how often do you see someone walking down the street with red and green on? When Christmas rolls around, I try to incorporate a Christmas “feel” with my original décor instead of overrunning my place with santas and snowmen. Christmas is supposed to be a happy and joyful time. So why not decorate your place in a way that will make you happy? This year I decided to decorate my mantel only and NOT put up a Christmas tree (I can just see a few of my friends shaking their heads at me right now). Don’t get me wrong, I do like having a Christmas tree - the smell of the pine, the lights and the cute ornaments. But this year I really didn’t want to bother and decided to incorporate all these things on my mantel instead. Lucky for me, I already had cute little pink Christmas ornaments and had just recently bought a bunch of pine and cedar branches at our local market. I also had a few recycled wine bottles and glass jars that I was aching to do something with. AND bonus, I finally got to display my beautiful DIY Burlap Bow. Perfect ingredients for a DIY “Not So Christmas-y” Christmas Mantel.
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DIY “not so Christmas-y” Christmas Mantel
This post will show you an effective way to decorate your Christmas Mantel as well as DIY projects that you can add. All the individual DIY projects are in pink: Fake “Gift” for a Christmas Mantel, Up-Cycled “Vintage Looking” Wine Bottle, Frosted Up-Cycled Jar Made With Epsom Salts, and Fresh Cranberry Garland and the materials listed in DIY Burlap Bow.
To achieve the entire Christmas Mantel look above, you will need all of the following items: indoor white christmas lights
First things first, I want to introduce you to the easiest way to decorate your mantel at any time of year. It’s called the triangle method. I have several mantels in my place and no joke, if you inspect all of them, they all form some sort of triangle. It’s the easiest way to decorate your mantel in an eye-catching and pleasing way and never fails to disappoint. It won’t steer you wrong.
- Begin by imagining a triangle that forms at the beginning and end of your mantle and peaks in the middle at approximately the same height as about 2/3rd of the width of your mantel. If you have a hard time imaging the triangle, you could easily mark it with some painters tape or string. But make sure to be careful when pulling off the tape as to not rip off the paint.
- Chose one “anchor” item. This is an item that is fairly big and will most likely be bigger than the rest of your items. This item will also serve to fill most of your triangle and will be in the background. Usually your anchor will be somewhat in the middle, however I never like things too symmetrical so I usually put mine at approximately 2/3rd of the width of my mantel, give or take. Try to choose something that isn’t too “busy” and if it is, something that will blend well in the background. For my Christmas Mantel, I wrapped a blank canvas with cute wrapping Christmas wrapping paper. Looking back, I could have probably gone with paper that was more on the “tame” side but I think it works anyways. Also, try to pick something that is fairly flat as you will most likely be adding items in front of your anchor item.
FAKE “GIFT” FOR A CHRISTMAS MANTEL:
What you will need: a blank artist canvas (mine measured 18×24 inches), Christmas wrapping paper, tape, scissors and other Christmas wrapping decorations such as ribbon, bows and gift tags. Basically all you would need to wrap an actual gift.
This is a fairly simple project. Simply wrap your canvas as you would a normal gift. Lay your canvas (right side down) on the wrapping paper (wrong side) and cut around, leaving approximately 1.5 inches around all sides. Tape the sides to the back of the canvas and fold the corners according, just as you would with a normal gift. 
Once your canvas is wrapped, add extras such as ribbon, gift tags, etc. Learn how to make the burlap bow in the picture here. You don’t necessarily have to commit to the extras right away. Wait until you’re ready to put your mantel together and add your extra accordingly, to fit your Christmas Mantel decor.
- Now, pick a long item or items that will reach and fill out to the top of your triangle peak. Often, it’s the combination of two items that you will use to make a long enough item to reach the top of your peak. For my Christmas Mantel, these items are the cedar branches in the up-cycled wine and liquor bottles to the left.
UP-CYCLED “VINTAGE LOOKING” WINE BOTTLE:
There are so many ways that you can turn recycled bottle and jars into great Christmas Decorations. I also give you several options on this page.
What you will need: a recycled wine bottle (washed and without labels), ripped up book pages, glue (I used Mod Podge for paper projects), a foam brush, Annie Sloan Soft Dark Wax ®, an old paint brush and cotton rag.
Tear your book pages into uneven paper scraps. Vary the size from 1 inch to 2 inches. Brush a thin layer of glue onto a small area of the wine bottle with your foam brush. Place a few pieces of your paper scraps over the glue and push down lightly with your fingers to eliminate the air bubbles and to make the paper really stick. Brush a thin layer of glue over the paper to seal. Repeat this process until the bottle is entirely covered with your book pieces. 
Let dry overnight. Once the glue is completely dried, brush a thin layer of the dark wax over a small area of the bottle with your old paint brush. Softly rub off the extra wax with your cotton rag and repeat this over the entire bottle. Add another coat of wax using the same method. Keep adding coats of wax until you’ve reach the desired vintage look. At this point I let the wax “dry” overnight. If you cannot obtain Annie Sloan Soft Dark Wax - try using brown acrylic paint instead and rub off with the cotton rag.
*As you can see, I previously used this technique (without the dark wax) on my table as well 🙂
- Here’s a tip moving forward: you don’t have to stay in the lines of the triangle. In fact, it’s much better that you don’t! If you decide to go out of the lines, make sure that you do so on the opposite side as well. This will balance it off. In the photo at the beginning of the post, notice how the cedar branches are out of the lines on the left. They are balanced out with the right corner of the anchor item and some of the cedar branches of the Mini-Christmas Tree Jar.
Now to fill the triangle! Fill in the blank gaps with your favourite Christmas items. Don’t just stick to Christmas items either, you can totally add other décor items as well. Make sure you use an array of different textures and colours, this is what really makes it pop! This step usually the one that takes the longest as it will take a lot of removing and putting up again and stepping back to examine your work until you’re satisfied. Step back and squint your eyes and look for empty space in your triangle. Don’t worry about the small gaps. What we are looking for at this point, are big noticeable gaps. The fillers that I used for my Christmas Mantel were: a picture frame of Bernie, an up-cycled Patron® bottle/cedar branch on top of a stack of books and a Mini-Christmas Tree Jar. This particular Mini-Christmas Tree Jar I made with an up-cycled jam jar and created a frosty look with Epsom Salts. Notice also, that the ribbons from the burlap bow also serve as filler. *I’ll let you in on my little secret: I added the hanging ribbon tails after the fact.* Use your imagination and try out different items - you’ll be surprised what works with your Christmas Mantel. Another hint: use books or bricks to add height to your favourite items to cover those pesky gaps that are hard to fill.
FROSTED UP-CYCLED JAR MADE WITH EPSOM SALTS:
What you will need: a recycled jar (I used a jam jar), white glue, a sponge brush, epsom salts, a medium-sized box and a ladle.
Make sure that your jar is nice and clean and rid of all labels. Paint the outside of jar with a thin even layer of glue. I did this by holding the jar from the inside. Place the jar above your box and scoop the epsom salts with your ladle. Sprinkle the epsom salts evenly over the entire glued surface. Shake the jar slightly to remove excess salt. The box is there to pick up the epsom salts and avoid a mess - trust me - you need the box!
Let dry overnight. Decorate how you wish. I purposely did not add salt to the top portion of my jar (the area where the lid would screw on) because I knew that I wanted a ribbon there.
There are so many ways that you can turn recycled bottle and jars into great Christmas Decorations. I also give you several options on this page.
- It’s important that you don’t fill ALL the gaps of your triangle because you will end up with… well… a triangle. So make sure you leave SOME blank areas on either side of your triangle. These will obviously not be huge gaps but small gaps here and there are not a big deal. See if you can spot the blank spaces in the picture at the beginning of the post and notice how they balance each other out.
- Now add in all the fun extras. This is what will really personalize your Christmas Mantel and turn it into a work of art. The extras are small items that you can put here an there on your mantle that add the perfect touch. The cherry on the sundae as you will. In this case, the extras were the lights, the cranberry garland and the cute little pink and red ornaments. On other non-Christmas mantels, you could add special little personal mementos such as seashells from your recent trip or a small piece of driftwood from the beach. Or heck, add them to your Christmas mantel! Why not?
FRESH CRANBERRY GARLAND:
I’m sure that most of us have made a cranberry garland at one point or another in our lives. In case you need a refresher, here it is:
What you will need: a regular bag of fresh cranberries, a sewing needle, scissors and thread.
Thread you needle. *Don’t bother cutting your string just yet, keep it on the bobbin. I used all my cranberries and ended up cutting my thread after I was done. I also cut the thread a little longer than necessary so that I would have space to move the cranberries here and there on the actual garland.*
Pass your threaded needle through the core/stem of the cranberry and pull through. Repeat this until you’ve used all the cranberries in your bag. Cut your string and gently tie off both ends around a cranberry so that the other cranberries don’t slip off the thread.
Place on your Christmas mantel as desired.
- Don’t tell anyone but I often use clear tape “behind the scenes” while decorating my mantels. In the case of this particular Christmas Mantel, the lights that I used were particularly stubborn so I ended up taping a few of them down. Don’t be afraid to use a few tricks here and there to achieve your look. As long as you can’t see it, then go for it!
The key to this project is to have fun it! And if you’re not having fun and are getting really frustrated than stop what you’re doing, throw some lights on it and voila! Everything looks good with lights! 😉 Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
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