Hi!  I'm Carol, aka: Sarah's Mom.  Now that my children are all grown up, my husband and I have moved to an apartment.  I didn't do much holiday decorating the first year here but I really felt the loss of the creativity and beauty and the celebration of it all.  Now I'm back to it and so much happier! 'Present' is the root word of Present-ation.  I create presents for all the holidays, for myself and anyone else who happens over to our apartment to enjoy!

This is my apartment mantel~ Starting with a blank canvas:



When decorating a mantel you'll want to measure length and depth, so you know how large/small decor pieces can be used ( i.e. narrow mantel means you have to use narrow items).


Take note of what is hanging above your mantel (i.e. mirrors or pictures), You will have to decide if you want to cover it, remove it or work around it.  In this case we are going to work around it.

Next step is to decide if you want the height on the sides or the middle of your mantel. Because of the picture, and not wanting to move or obstruct it, I've decided that I want all of the height on my mantel to be on the sides, going with short décor items in the center.



Take your creative base: In this case it is a table runner, but you could use anything for your base (even a bunch of napkins on the diagonal if you are trying to find stuff around the house). For example this was another table runner I found on clearance last year at Michael's. I didn't end up using it because it was too short for the look I was going for.



Now that I have decided I am doing the height on the sides, I need to figure out what I want to be the center of the mantel. This is going to be your anchor and where you start, I just love witches, so mine is a little flying witch.

Find the middle of the table runner and then anchor it to the mantel. Make sure that the bottom is even and straight across. In this case I'm looking at the spider webs on the end to make sure those are straight.



Once you have that, you're ready to move on to the outside with the height. I found these cute signs and decided to stack them. Sometimes it take a few tries, but just keep trying.


Now that we have one side we're going to work on the other side.

See in the first picture, when I place them side by side, there is no depth or variety. To change that I found a little candle holder and I put it under the man pumpkin, doesn't it look so much better when the man is slightly taller than the woman?


So this is what we have now. My table runner, my anchor and my two outside height pieces. By the way, my husband was a football player and I was a cheerleader, both in high school and college so these "dolls" were a 'must buy' for me!!!!


Since there are two height things on the right (man and woman pumpkins) I decided to add something with the same height to the signs.


So now the mantel looks like this:


The next layer I decided to go with a pumpkin pillow on the left and a little sign on the right. Again, the sign on the right was a little too low, so I put a jar under it to give it some height.




 Next I wanted to add something that was somewhat the same- a "set." While these look different, they are both sparkly pumpkin candles.




Now it sort of looks a little plain right?


Let's add another layer, in this case some leaves I found at Micheal's on clearance last year. 

Left side, this really takes placing the leaves down and then moving my decorations to sit on top of it.


The right side: I made sure that I covered the jar that is holding up my sign.


The last and final step is unexpected, but totally necessary. Some call it adding confetti, I call it adding sparkle. I just want to fill in the tiny blank spaces. I found some pumpkin ornaments and then just confetti'd them around to fill in the spaces.



 Advance note: You can always add lighting as well, but that would have been done right after the mantel cover was placed.  Don't forget to test lights before building/placing décor items. Battery operation? or electrical? Think of plug availability....

Sarah and I went into Pier One and found these things you could use for your confetti or sparkle. I personally have given up on glitter....forever, but they are cute!
Have fun creating 'presents' in your home!!! Sarah and I would love to see your creations!
Post your links in the comments below.




Linking up with That DIY Party, Tweek it Tuesday, Mad Skills Party,  Fabulous Party, Weekend Retreat