I have decided to change Furniture Friday to Feature Friday.  Today I am featuring my new permanent family room mantel display.  I have been changing this mantel out seasonally ever since we uncovered the fireplace from behind the wall that the previous owners had installed.  Please click here to visit my husband’s blog to see how he transformed a blank wall into our rustic, lodgy fireplace.  You may also click “Mantel” on the right sidebar to see some of the previous mantelscapes.

On the left I have my Industrial Inspired Candle Holders and a bucket full of pussy willow branches purchased at Tai Pan Trading Co. a few years ago.  In the middle is an antique folding ruler my husband gave me for Christmas.  On the right I have my Barbed Wire Wreath and a wooden artist’s model I bought at Ikea in January. 

I am pretty happy with the mantel and the whole fireplace in general.  It is a little blank on either side.  My husband has a couple of furniture projects planned and I have a couple of art projects to fill in the blank spaces.  I am hoping we can get most, if not all our projects finished this year. 

Thanks for stopping by !  Have a wonderful weekend!

Shamrock Pop Art

St Patrick’s Day Tablescape

St. Patrick’s Day Art Tutorial

St. Patrick’s Day Mantel

     Hello everybody!  For today’s That’s Crafty Thursday, I am sharing some St. Patrick’s Day decorations from the last couple of years.  If you’d like more info on any of the photos above, just click on the picture to be taken to the original post.  Thanks for joining me.  Have a wonderful day!

Welcome to our Rustic Country Christmas.  I have really been into the rustic, industrial look this year and created quite a few piece for my home.

DIY Barbed Wire Wreath

DIY Industrial Candle Holders

DIY Homemade Wood Stain

 I gathered some of my favorite things from around the house like the bucket full of pussy willows (above) and my sweet little angel (below).

I usually make a few new things just for each new Christmas theme.  This year I made a bunch of  ornaments (some I have shared already and some I will share soon).  I also made this Noel  sign.

This was super easy to make and a lot of fun too .  I bought  the wooden squares at Hobby Lobby.  I had Handy Hubby drill some holes in the upper corners for me.  I stained them with a light stain.  I used a few grapevines from my backyard to make the letters.  I used a little dark wood stain on the vines to make them easier to read before I hot glued them to the squares.  I strung the sign up with a little twine. 

 Since I do a new Christmas theme each year I only buy one or two new things each year.  The nativity scene (above) is one of the things I bought. I placed it in a wicker picnic basket I had around the house and filled it with raffia.   I will show you the other thing I bought very soon.

Thank you for stopping in to share my Rustic County Christmas mantel.  I hope your season is merry and bright so far.  Happy Holidays everyone!

This year my kids wanted to do a witch’s apothecary/spell prep mantel.

Here is Broom Hilda’s “Little Book of Big Spells”, the candelabra she uses for her conjuring, and some of her ingredients namely Skull of Dwarf and Shadow Spiders.

Here are some more of her ingredients.

Eye of Newt, Blood of Troll, Bile of Dragon, and Gall of Griffin.

The kids had a blast coming up with all the different ingredients and helping me put everything together.  Most of the time this blog is my thing and I like it that way (I need it that way, for my sanity) but sometimes it is this wonderous tool that brings my kids and me together and journals our escapades.  I am grateful and blessed to live in an age that will allow my great-great grandchildren to have such a good record of our lives.

One day my husband suggested making crates.  Here is a link to the crate he made and his tutorial.

This is the crate I made.  I painted it with some homemade black chalk paint. I distressed it by sanding it lightly with some fine grit sandpaper.  I was going to just leave it but…it just didn’t seem finished so I added this design with some white paint and a little stencil that I had on hand.  I will post the tutorial for making this crate on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend!  It is our last couple of days of Summer.  My kids start school on Monday.  This year all four kids will be in school.  I am giddy and sad about that.  This will be the first time in thirteen years that I will have a little time to myself.   What will I do with myself?  I have visions of taking a yoga, Zumba, or Pilates class.  I also have visions of taking a nap.  My older kids keep me up late.  My younger kids get me up early.  I don’t get enough sleep, so anytime I sit for more than a few minutes, I doze off.  Or at least I try.  As soon as I close my eyes, someone starts yelling, “Mom, Mom, Mom!!!!”.   Here is what will most likely happen with my free time, laundry and dishes.