Decorating a Mantel for Christmas

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of hosting 4 other bloggers here at Bella Terra. Being the recipient of their collective creativity, they tackled 3 fireplace mantels and decorated them for the holidays. What a fun experience watching these talented gals in action. Today I want to share the mantel over the fireplace in my art room. To see more about this fireplace and room, click here for a previous post.

Barbara from Mantel and Table is the innovative person behind this. If you love fine china, silver, teacups and flowers, her blog is one to follow. Barbara actually participates in table setting competitions (who even knew those existed!) and is an elegant, poised lovely individual.

She went right to work finding items to use~including artificial garland, faux silk peonies, candles, ribbon and ornaments.

First of all, I wouldn’t have thought to use clusters of peonies. Nor would I add the ornaments. What is so wonderful is how much I am learning from these talented women!

Adding the gold sprig brings a bit of brightness to the theme. I love how Barbara weaves the ribbon throughout. This is such a soft and feminine look, perfect for my art studio!

Lastly the candles are added at different heights to create interest and ambiance.

I love the fullness of the garland. Typically I just run the garland straight across the mantel, however, this abundant look is more appealing. The asymmetrical use of the pinecone ornaments and garland works too!

Barbara states that her inspiration is a painting that I haven’t completed, but is sitting on the easel nearby. It is also a bit hard to stand back and take a picture as this is a very small room, filled with my art supplies. I love how romantic this mantel looks in my work space!

To read more about the fireplaces at our home (we have 7), click here. There are two more decorated fireplace mantels to show you and I will post about those tomorrow. To read more about these 4 fabulous women and their visit to Bella Terra, click here.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. I am just now starting all the other Christmas decorating slowly but surely!

Please share this post on Pinterest~thank you!

Source for similar items used in mantel:

Artificial Garland at Amazon here

Pinecone Ornaments here

Gold Berry Stems here

Ribbon 2″ wide here

Silk peonies here

Straight taper candles here

Candle holders from West Elm here