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Friday, November 7, 2014

31 Days 17: An Easy Holiday Mantle



Holiday decorating is not really something I do.  Unless it's Christmas, I just don't have the time or the money to make the effort.  But as the kids get older, I know I'm going to have to make more of an effort.  

So, after browsing Pinterest one night, I decided I would do a little fall mantle.  Something easy and cute that would last from Halloween through Thanksgiving.  

I have seen these cute banners around for months, and I had a burlap table runner I saw at Target for just that purpose.  I used the word "Thankful" because that is the theme I want my family to focus on during the holidays.  



First, I ironed it.  This may be the first time I've ironed this year.  Mr. Rogue Mom irons his own pants.  That's right, be jealous ladies!



Then, I cut it in half long-ways.



To cut each flag, I put one of my letter stencils centered on the edge to see how much space I needed for it to look somewhat centered.  Mine was 4".  I bought this pack of paper stencils from Wal-mart about 2 years ago for my mailbox and have not used them since.  Glad I saved them!



Once I had a stack of 8 flags (to spell "Thankful".) I used the nifty 60 degree line on my cutting mat to mark where I wanted to cut the V in the bottom of my flag.  I just put a mark on the center with a pen and cut from the bottom corner to the mark.  I free-handed this.



Then I put some paper under my burlap so I wouldn't get paint all over my craft table, and blotted black paint in each stencil letter.  



I removed the stencil and filled in the stencil-gaps with a skinny paint brush free-hand.




Then I took a low-heat (trust me, the burlap is porous and you will get hot glue on your fingers) hot glue gun and glued the pieces onto some twine, with a 1" space between each flag.  



I hung it up, and grabbed some dead branches from the woods outside to put in my tall vases.  If you don't have tall vases, you could use a cowboy boot, or even a rain boot.  You may just have to put something heavy in the bottom to keep it from tipping over.



And done!  Now, if I can just print some wallets to put in that Ferris wheel frame so people quit asking me who the family in the stock pictures is...

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