Christmas Mantels from Days Gone By
I have unearthed a few photos of Christmas mantels from previous years. The first four photos are of an arrangement I did several years ago, and it is still one of my favorites. I collect Department 56 New England Village pieces and I used some of them in this display. I used a rectangular mirror and it worked well because the two “heavy” pieces were at either ends of the mirror. This mantel features three churches, an important addition to a Christmas display. I used piled boxes or books to give each piece a different height. All the houses were lighted; the batten, greenery and berries make the wires easy to hide. In the valley in the center of the display was a small round “pond” (little mirror) with two skaters on it. I covered the edges with batten “snow” and it looked so perfect—shame on me for not getting a good enough photo to show. I included the last photo, even though it’s not of an acceptable quality, because I wanted to show the last accessory that I used, and this was the only photo I could find. I thought the little berry wreath (on an easy to remove stick-on hanger) was the just right finishing touch.
This mantel (next photo), while very pretty, also didn’t take a very nice photo. It was done with trees, angels and a small pewter nativity that is one of my favorites. I don’t use this one often because it is quite small. But each figure is very detailed on both sides; very nicely made, shown in close up photo. I used real greenery, with red berries for color. And, of course, I used candles.
This next mantel is similar to the one I did this year. I have included this year’s photo so you can decide for yourself which one you like better. I used the pewter nativity that I used again this year (2016); the overall mantel design is a little bigger than the one from this year. It certainly has more “snow” than the one this year. Although it doesn’t show in the photo, I sprinkled some snow glitter on the cotton batten, which gave it a nice sparkle in the light. In this arrangement, the angels by the mantel were up on boxes for height, as were some of the trees. One of my favorite things about each of these arrangements is the round mirror. It isn’t too big or too small and it highlights whatever is in the center of an arrangement.
Final thought:
Each of these designs has brought me the joy of creating and the satisfaction of something done to the best of my ability. I encourage each of you to try something new. When you find what you are created to do, you will be filled with the same joy and the same satisfaction.