4th of July Mantel

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July always makes me kind of nostalgic.  I have fond memories of decorating my bike with my sisters, learning how to weave that crepe paper in and out of the spokes.  It was an art!  Who could decorate their bike the best - we would spend quite a bit of time wrapping our handle bars and making streamers for the handle grips.

I think that is why I find myself wanting to adorn things with red, white and blue this time of year! So instead of my bike - I did decorated my mantel for the 4th of July.

 Let's face it - if I decorated my bike now and rode down the street with it all done up- I think my neighbors would start to think I had totally lost it.

I wanted to try something a little different with my bunting - so I decided to try making a sort of mantel scarf with vertical strips of burlap and denim.  Using very wide burlap ribbon, I simple cut them in varying lengths and hand basted the strips together.  The little metal stars I added had come all linked together in a chain fashion.  I took my wire cutters and cut them apart, keeping one of the links on each star so that I could use it to fasten the star to my fabric.  

Who knew when I bought these red shutters that I would use them so many times, you all are probably getting tired of seeing them!  I'm not real sure what the bunny has to do with the 4th of July - but I liked him in there.  Maybe he is feeling his Independence too!

Simply adding some scrap book paper to my white candles made them look more festive.

As I was looking for appropriate paper to use - I found this sheet with the United States that was the perfect size to cut out and put in one of my weathered white frames.  

 When looking through my frames - I immediately thought of Lady Liberty for the oval frame.  I simply Googled -  printable Statue of Liberty drawings - and several came up.  I printed this out on just regular old cheap printer paper and then cut it out and mounted it on some blue star scrap paper.   Sure - it isn't perfect - but it cost me next to nothing!

So just like my bike when I was little - now my mantel is all wrapped in Red White and Blue and ready to celebrate the Fourth of July.

I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day!

I am linking up to the following parties:
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper
The Sunday Showcase @ Under The Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn