I Got a New Sled!

Welcome to my faux mantel post!  There are so many things to talk about in this post, I don't know where to begin.  Let's start with, I wanted to join Layla's mantel party, so with no mantel in site, I decided to improvise by hanging a stocking that would qualify this long flat surface as a "mantel."  What?  You think so, too?

I whipped up the token stocking in maybe twenty minutes, more on that on Fabric Fun Thursday...  Onto my be-a-u-tiful new sled.

See here?  I tell ya, folks seem to be cleaning out a bunch of stuff to de-clutter for the holidays.  I think I actually got my adrenaline going at the GW the other day (wait till you see what I found that's on my dining table).   It's a good thing I'm not a senior citizen or anything...  The bottom of my new sled had a $4 sticker, the top had a $2 sticker.  I promise it was not my shenanigans.  I got it for $2!  Hip hip hooray! 

It got white and distressed.  (Yeah, I'm original like that.)  I had a smaller one in my hand, but found this large one in the wood section, not in the Christmas section.  Bigger is usually better in my house.

I like that is has mostly straight lines with a couple of curls towards the front.

 

You've see my bird before, here she sits on a bottle-brush wreath I found on clearance last year.

I made a faux book ornament, too.  I may make more, the trees could use a little something.  All's I did was cut several pages in half, folded them in half like a mini book, then wrapped with jute.  

I used greens and pine cones to cover up the unattractive bases.

My pedestal thrift bowl is on display.  Shhh, wanna know a secret?  The ornament is hanging there to hide the light cord.

I thought the light was coming in here so pretty in the afternoon.

A close up my my gathered burlap runner.

Bowl baubles:  I found a huge bundle of white and pearly ornaments for $2 at GW--how perfect are they in this display?  See the bird?  It's the one in my "before" sled photo, above.  It, too, got whited.  My current motto is "buy all birds" BABs.

A better view of my stocking (mantel stand-in) remember?

While you're here, take a minute and enter my current King Arthur Flour Giveaway.

I'm linking all over town...