The Patriot’s Mantel

A few months ago I was inspired to redecorate my living room mantel.  For years we had the requisite framed mirror, candles, wedding photo, all arranged beautifully.  It wasn’t us though.  Simply put, the mantel was the magazine mantel, the one everyone has.  Layla, at The Lettered Cottage redid her mantel for Spring and instantly I was entranced.  You can change what’s on the mantel?  It doesn’t have to be symmetrical?  It doesn’t have to be cookie-cutter perfect?

The idea of a mantel that reflected us as individuals bounced around in my head for a while before I came up with a concrete idea of what I wanted.  Since the mantel is one of the first things to be seen when you enter our home, I knew if I was going to redo it, I was going to do it right.  That brought me to ask, “Who are we?” Simply, we’re patriots.  We’re lovers of America. Defenders of our flag.  We soar with the eagles.  That, my friends, is what inspired my new mantel.

I grabbed the eagle my grandmother gave me and sent a few pictures to be printed, then purchased the frames I thought would represent the meaning of the photos.  The lil’sis and I set out for Jamesport, Missouri, where I snagged the remaining key pieces for our mantel.

Detail descriptions under the photos.

This is called Young Talon by a local artist.  My grandmother recently gave me this sculpture from her collection.  I actually remember going with her to purchase this from a local florist when I was kid.

The rusty star garland is from a shop in Jamesport, Missouri. The photo was taken by one of our friends while The Husband and he were stationed at Bagram AFB, Afghanistan in 2006.  The flag pole is held together with duct tape. Hindu Kush mountain range in the background.  Frame is a shadow box from Hobby Lobby that I distressed with some white paint.

The 1776 plate is a purchase from Jamesport, the In God We Trust Star and the Prayer for our Soldiers Cross are both Hobby Lobby purchases.  The basket is an old clearance purchase from too many moons ago and the book, God Bless America is  a wonderful collection of Poetry my father gave me.

This photo I found on the internet a while ago and it spoke to me so it’s been hanging out on my computer waiting for a purpose in my life.  The mantel project was the perfect excuse to have it printed and framed.  Frame from Hobby Lobby.

The flag garland I found at TJMaxx and couldn’t resist it.  Finally, it was put to use.  Sadly, I’m not a “garland” person and I felt the rusty star garland was overkill, then I hung this… and merciful heavens that’s a lot of garland.

The little glass jars filled with flowers are a combo of things.  The jars came in a set of 5 from Nell Hills, rocks and flowers from various hobby shops.  2 of the jars are filled with flowers, 2 are filled with flags and I’m not sure what I did with the 5th…

These aren’t from the mantel, but from the display cases we have in the living room (same room) so it worked out well that everything kind of tied together.  The Protect our Men and Women in Uniform angel was a Christmas gift from my mom.  The angel is made designed by Jim Shore and if you haven’t seen his collection, you must.  (I have to have this… and fast!  Oh, and then next will be this.  View the entire patriotic selection here.)  The man is genius. The Willow Tree Hero was a gift from my husband.   The eagle in the background was our first eagle, still love it.

Today’s the last day for the Ocean’s Between Us giveaway, things have been a little crazy in my personal life and the website has taken a serious hit in terms of attention.  If you haven’t entered the giveaway, hurry up and do so as I won’t enter your name after midnight (CDT) tonight.  The book truly is fantastic and it’s already on my queue to read again.