Getting Creative at Home Blog Tour {my favorite project}

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Welcome to the Getting Creative at Home Blog Tour {my favorite project}!

This is the Country Design Style portion of the tour:)

Getting Creative at Home

First I would like to thank Julie at Lilacs and Longhorns for putting this blog tour together.  The tour is 24 bloggers that missed out on the Haven conference for DIY bloggers.  Since we stayed at home busy creating we decided to share with you our favorite projects.

It’s day two so here’s the list for today.

Tuesday, Aug. 6:
Designer’s Sweet Spot
Design Dreams by Anne
Country Design Style
Shabby Art Boutique
Cupcakes and Crinoline
This is not a walking tour so sit back and click around the website, please raise your hand if you have any questions.  Or, hum…just leave a comment, I’ll get back to you.

Getting Creative at Home CDS-3

My favorite project has to be the scrap wood mantle I made for our bedroom.  For those new here, years ago in my younger life, I made furniture and home accessories to sell wholesale to stores along the central coast of California.  During those wonderful and I might add younger times, my favorite things to build were mantles.  No two were ever alike!

scrap wood mantle

This is the first mantle I’ve ever made for our home and I’m having a blast decorating it.  It changes almost weekly!  The picture above is the first finished photo.

Chalk fire Country Design Style

I painted the “fire box” with chalkboard paint, then proceeded to draw a fire.

Santa visits in chalk

At Christmas Santa had a bit of a surprise!

Getting Creative at Home CDS

Above is the top of mantle today…tomorrow??

Anyway,  it’s back to school for many so I did a “school of life” mantle.  It’s a bit of an inspiration board.  I pulled out old school papers from my days and my son’s time at school.  I made copies and added some to fabric using mod podge.  I sacrificed 89 cents worth of upholstery tacks by cutting the tack part off leaving the head.  A dab of hot glue on the head of the tacks and painters tape on the back will leave our freshly painted 15 shades of white walls intact.

A few pieces are scraps of “tests” I have done for other projects.  I tried painting fabric with chalkboard paint to make a fabric chalkboard.  It works!  You can see the little black sailboat I made for a summer mantle.  Yep, same mantle!

I copied old letters from people who have inspired me to create and learn.  One from my grandfather and one my brother wrote at six years old.

Getting Creative at home CDS Info Photo

Included in the mix are mistakes too.  That one on the bottom far left was a inkrunningmess.  I tried to make a tray with pictures on the bottom.   Gave up on that one.  I added a info photo above.  The Little Red Hen was myfavorite childhood book.  Not for the story, but for the exciting animal sounds Grandpa would make while reading.  Anyone that’s read the book understands, Lol!  I’ve been told that book ruined me.  It’s about doing it yourself, and I’m learning in the blogging world that concept doesn’t work.  Fine for building mantles, painting rooms, or building a workshop.

scary man

Oh, and the scary man on top, that’s my favorite decorating tip!  Add you!  Always add you to your home decor.  Whatever unique, unusual, or quirky item you love don’t be afraid to decorate with it.  That scary man drawing was done by my son when he was around 12.  I found it when cleaning his room crumbled up on the floor.  I liked it…so I found an antique frame, bought a mat, and it’s been in a prominent place since.  Currently the “original” hangs in the kitchen.

Getting Creative at Home CDS-2

I would love to tell you I spent hours arranging and rearranging the pieces of scraps for this, but I didn’t. I just stuck them up.  One simple tip I did was to make sure at least one side lined up with another.  Either top, bottom, right or left.

To see more of our cabin take a quick tour of our cabin.

The Getting Creative Blog Tour continues throughout this week.  Click to see the complete schedule of the Blog Tour.

A special Pinterest board has been made for all the projects too!  Remember to share the projects on this tour on your favorite social media accounts.

Thank you and please watch your step as you disembark!

Any questions?

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35 Comments

  3. Jeannette, your mantles are wonderful. I love that you incorporate lots of small treasures. Pieces that on their own are not showstoppers but put together they become just that.
    tammy

  5. Jeanette, your mantle is just stunning!! I love your idea for the vignette of favorite mementos from your childhood and your family, that is what it is all about in my book. How fun this has been getting to know everyone on our Blog Tour!

  7. Jeanette!!!! Oh my goodness ~ this is one of the most creative mantels/DIY’s I have ever ever seen. Wow! So happy to have met you through the Blog Tour. Pinning and sharing {of course}.

    Have a lovely week,

    Mary Beth

    1. Mary Beth I have to admit, this mantle is one of my favorite ones I’ve ever made. I’ve made many. Thank you for pinning and sharing

  9. WOW! Love your mantle! I adore your choice of artwork to go over it, nothing makes a house a home like your children’s art, whether they are grown up or not! Visiting you on the blog tour….thanks for the inspiration!

    1. Julie, I want to thank you for having such a fun idea. We have to do another blog tour, maybe for the holidays??

  12. Jeanette! How have I not seen your blog before? I know I’ve seen that Santa coming down the chimney before, but I LOVE your blog!!! Newest follower right here!!! So glad you’re on the tour too!! LOVE everything!!! Hugs!! Claire

    1. Claire, thank you! The Santa was on Hometalk and first posted on my old blog Homa Style. I’m moving some of the popular posts over to Country Design Style. Santa will be here by Christmas:)

  13. Oh my goodness! This is amazingly gorgeous and so fun!! I love your creativity. Thanks for sharing. Pinned 🙂

  15. This is amazing! Visiting from the tour – Love the mantel and the chalkboard center is brilliant. Really enjoy how you can constantly change everything up to suit your fancy (the Santa feet image is a riot!) . I’ve always wanted a fireplace in the bedroom and this would be a great option!
    Can’t wait to browse around your site more!
    Cheers!
    Christina
    PennyWise

    1. Thanks Christina, I do want to post a step by step instructions to build a basic mantle with drawings. I always felt the most important part of a faux mantle was to enclose the fire box. I’m loving the blog tour too! Great to meet new blogging friends.

  16. Amazing fireplace! How talented and clever you are. I love your wall of memories. Great idea to copy these keepsakes and hang them where you see them frequently. The addition of the heads of tacks is a great idea. A lot of wonderful inspiration in this post. So glad it’s on the GCAH tour. laurie

  17. Love that mantle!!! and the way you styled it is so sweet.

    Hmmm where on earth could I fit a mantle in my house… I may have to do this outside!!!

    Cheers xox

  18. Hi Jeannette, I’m visiting from our blog tour. Your mantle is so great! I would just love one like that for my bedroom. I’m going to poke around some more because I want to see what other amazing things you’ve been up to. Great job!

    1. Kim, thank you so much! Great to meet you on the blog tour. I will be doing a post on mantle plans with step by step instructions and drawings soon. It would be awesome if you built one for your bedroom. The plans will be for basic molding. Additional trims can be added as you wish:)

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