Holiday Mantel 2011

I just finished getting my mantel ready for the season.  I decided again this year to leave out red in my Christmas decorations and instead go with green, silver, and white with lots of natural touches.

I bought two bunches of cedar branches {unfortunately I don't have any in my yard that I can cut!}.  I knew that I wanted to make a few cedar topiaries, similar to the ones I made last year.   I thought about making garland for the fireplace, but decided on just draping the branches across the mantel.  Pretty easy, right?

The branches already had a natural curve to them so they drape over the mantel nicely.

Here's an overall view of the mantel:

When I decorate for the season, I try to just use the accessories that I already have and make them work for the occasion.  I only item I bought for this years mantel were the cedar branches.

I love these glass candle holders.  I've had them in my Christmas mantel every year since I bought them.  They are from CB2 and were really inexpensive.

I also really like these mercury glass birds.  If you've been reading 33 Shades of Green for a while now, you are probably sick of seeing them!  They are from Target {a few years ago}.

I placed mercury glass and silver votive holders all over the mantel.  I use these all the time too.

Glass canisters are another mantel staple for me - just fill them up with any element of the season and they are good to go!

This is the left side of the mantel:

And this is the right:

I'm definitely enjoying the festive decorations - I hope you are enjoying yours as well!

You can see my past Holiday mantels here:

2010

2009

I shared this post with the Holiday Home Link Party.  This week it is all about mantels over at Southern Hospitality.  Head on over there to see all the pretty mantels!

I also linked up the the Christmas Cheer Link Party @ Ten June

Beth is also hosting her mantel link party today @ Home Stories A to Z.

Join the fun at all the parties listed above!