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Here it is folks. My hodge podge mantle. A nice little mix of a few of my fav. projects from other people, and some of my own old standby stuff. :)
It doesn't really look like it, but I have been working on this mantle for weeks. That shows you just how
busy my life has been.
BUSY. Really, I guess the pennant is really what took the longest, and that's because I had to cut the chevron stripes out by hand...
Ohhh to have a Silhouette... How I long for the beauty of the Silhouette.... ok, anywaaaaayyyyyyy, I saw this pennant on Tatertots and Jello, and instantly fell in love with the colors and how the chevron pattern was being used. You can find the tutorial
here. I pretty much followed her tutorial, except I cut my pattern out by hand and I didn't sew the pattern on to the flags. The flags are made with canvas, and the stripe pattern with cotton fabric.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqafkuIwRphSYb0NFfJKi0Ra7dQAXjOKfzyVeu-Yah7XxCqnWhFT4imIXK2wjXiN4vz_c4EDEv_fEhI2T-xhmoHP2-FdSZwR45PZorWP1R8sXoOc_bHcKyImmsF5xL5aEmY_BuYuPQLRk3/s400/DSC_0002.JPG)
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Next up... the bird houses. I know I saw some like these, but larger maybe (?) somewhere out there in blog land. I seriously can't remember where! I found these at Michael's for $1.00 each, so I couldn't pass them up. I painted them, then sanded them to give a distressed look. Topped it off by using a
very watered down brown paint coating to really show the "distress."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnWcczsH3q-oqmv_hhyphenhyphen-37JnZujNgclZGuHhFsrhyphenhyphenYSoceX2_WRsUvTT7ObfpF14nM1V6lPh8NpzomTN34op5YYggGm2GN1NwZf2riS9cNIuldgUPLtbMKUzLK9lqbVXYRFN7xMZy63Th/s400/DSC_0004.JPG)
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruRsfiwRvdPYyunrdlRfVxdkJr3dyPE_sOhVFHU0vL00qkxUMZ9OJghVT8OT3YQYuovqDyfqDBn_TRtB-DDZAq_nJhSpsuzxrsmcJABZ3ZitosQ4K5432DRUOsVOheTmBPEADPz1B7-2p/s400/DSC_0006.jpg)
The houses were followed by this butterfly wall hanging that I found over at
Stay-at-Home ArtistI thought it was really pretty, springy, an unique. Again, I followed the
tutorial, except I distressed my old frame just as I did the bird houses.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiplqxY-z4wkGRnKRKAc6NRLqK4ysFZCNkTBhHTrykgTFyMikNSIpyZd15WRrq_1ZEhJxDu5GPaPZe06iohoXmiVScrwOp1F91T4Fgf3ajMXG4AAmy-YO28etjOQ-aQgXeIHIc4mIebzLC5/s400/DSC_0007.jpg)
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Now, this precious little fat bird :) is straight from Hobby Lobby. (%50 off!) Too cute, and (if you couldn't tell) I am totally crushing on blue right now. The candle I just topped off with a little rosette made from leftover fabric for good measure.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU0p9RAo3NfXSklHo_j3SNVbQ2z0v-FmEz2JWw9qsuU16q2Np4Oyjhkql38J9endXwkj8Rbis_uPkGcymz9vvZkIDqLFFgGCIdtSlF2S5fK7K5oH0MzMukt_5bxhZfDLLyQyVBIE7ZGQ5/s400/DSC_0009.JPG)
There you have it. Nothing too fancy, but it does make me smile. And think of warm sun. And cool breezes. And baby green leaves growing in the trees.
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Hope you are smiling this week- T