Tag Archives: joy

Holiday Banner and tWINE bottle Tutorial

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My apologies! It’s been too long since I’ve posted. My computer had a few hiccups so I sent it to a friend to have him clean it out and start me on my first (I know, welcome to the 21st century) external hard drive. {Insert shout out here: Thanks Brad for your help!}

As promised I have put together a couple holiday tutorials from my last post on mantle decorating for the holidays.

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First up is the J O Y banner I used on the frames in my holiday mantle. I used twine but ribbon and the like will do the job. I had some card stock laying around from another project so I used it for the pennant style banner pieces. I used oil pastels for a rustic deep red (crayons, markers or paint could have worked as well).

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I cut out some triangles, wrote my letters…

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and hot glued them onto the twine that I had cut to fit the frame.

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This took a whopping 10 minutes to create!

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Then I just tucked it up where I liked it on the frames and scotch taped it in place. I feel like this little touch actually made the mantle. It’s my favorite part!

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Next up is the twine wrapped wine bottle. Or as I call it, the tWINE bottle. Har har.

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All you need is some twine and a hot glue gun. Ribbon, yarn or string are some other alternatives. I used this technique on a wine bottle but it could easily be applied to jars, vases or flower pots. I started with a generous amount of hot glue at the base of the bottle and began wrapping. Every few inches i did another generous blob for hot glue and continued wrapping around and around. It got trickier at the neck of the bottle though. When I got to the base of the neck everything started shifting and slipping. I just took my time and glued way more often. When I got to the top I just cut the twine and glued generously again. Fairly simple. (I had step by step photos but they must be on my old phone since I just switched to the iphone 5- woot woot!)

Here they are on the mantle!

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DIY Pinterest Inspired Mantle

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Let’s be honest- what isn’t inspired by pinterest anymore? I recently got inspired to transform my ho-hum mantle into a holiday masterpiece. Check out my Holiday Mantle inspirations here. First order of business: color scheme. I chose a red and gold vibe… since my husband got to choose our tree decor this year (mine would have undoubtedly been red and gold)… ant it would coexist nicely with the tan wall and modest white mantle.

{ho-hum mantle}

I always believe in using what you have – I gathered up a few things. First I grabbed a few things that traditionally go on our mantle: stocking holders, stockings, etc. Then I gathered anything that touched on the red and gold thing I was going for. This included a hodge-podge of items pictured below.

{Clockwise from top left: white candles in holders, old red satin tree skirt, twine, twine wrapped wine bottle, gold picture frames, nutcrackers, stockings, stocking holders (center), red ribbon, beaded garland strands in gold and red, gold glitter sticks (hard to see), red ornaments (and one random gold one), glass vases, monogrammed pitcher. * not pictured: sticks and twigs}

The only thing I bought for this project was gold spray paint (for the frames and twigs)… and a little bit of twine that I stumbled upon on my way out of the hardware store for a buck. So this is literally a $6 project for me.

Think about your mantle in layers so that you don’t throw a bunch of stuff on it and spend all day balancing and removing items.

Layer one is the red satin tree skirt. I bunched it up and folded it to fit the mantle. Other ideas for a first layer could be evergreen garland, a boa -wouldn’t a white one give a cool snow effect?!- any fabric, brown craft paper, mirrors to reflect a little light…. the list goes on. Try anything!

Layer two is where I added my frames. This layer serves as the back ground so you can add anything. Mirrors, faux trees, lights, family photos, holiday pictures, anything you can imagine!

 

 

I also threw on a couple of the large sticks that I spray painted gold … I guess they are technically part of layer one.

Layer three is to add height. I used a tall thin vase and the twine wrapped bottle. I added some gold twigs and a few gold glitter sticks.

 

 

With the fourth layer I sort of skipped to the front of the mantle to hang the stockings. I knew I should add them while I could still make them symmetrical and not have to move much to do so.

 

 

{Stockings hung by the chimney with care}

Then I started layering in a little more height and personality with these nutcrackers. A little off the color scheme but still fit if you ask me.

{Hubby’s nutcracker collection}

{Better view of nutcracker addition. Starting to see a composition!}

{Scattered the tiered candle set for height and balance}

{Create a little vignette by putting ornaments and globes in a vase}

{Coming together!}

With the excess ornaments, I tied them to some of the frames so they could “hang” and give a few more pops of red. I also made “JOY” garland from a little bit of twine and paper. Tutorial coming soon on that and the twine wrapped bottle. There are a couple of empty vases that I plan on adding cranberries to after my next grocery trip. But all in all, that was pretty cheap and easy!

Tada!