Southern Scraps

 Did you see my new canvas art on display with my summer mantel ?  I had so much fun with the chevron ladybug frame , I decided to do another painted chevron piece but with a coastal theme. Here's a quick run down of what I used: Blank 11X14 canvas chevron shape Frog Tape craft smart acrylic paint (Michael's) in Robins Egg blue Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paint in Laguna blue craft smart satin acrylic paint (Michael's) in coral reef Silhouette Summer Sea Life foam brush I first painted the entire canvas with the Robins Egg blue. I find it easier to paint the lighter color first. It's easier to cover with the darker. After the first color thoroughly dried, I placed the  Frog Tape. Next I painted the Laguna blue. I peeled the tape off and let it all dry. I cut a stencil for the seahorse with my Silhouette and then traced the seahorse lightly onto my canvas with pencil. I filled it in with the coral. This took several coats. I went back with the Laguna ...

  Hope everyone has been having a great summer. I finally got around to updating my mantel for summer. I always bring out the coastal decor for summer.   Bowls and hurricanes filled with shells and some coastal potpourri/filler that I picked up at Michael's a few years ago help act as fillers. This year I added a few new touches with the old. The salt dough starfish is back. Imaging my delight at finding a blue Ball (mason) jar at the thrift store for 50 cents. I knew it was going on my mantel so it had to come home with me. I filled it with some blue deco sand and a few pieces of driftwood. It's about the seahorses this year. The ceramic seahorse I found a few years ago is on the other side of the mantel with the burlap sea shell art and my  jute wrapped discover bottle. On one side of the hearth I placed a lantern and some more shells.  On the other side of the hearth, I placed a large hurricane filled with shells. This...

  I changed out my winter mantel to my summer decor (we skipped spring decor due to illness in the family) a few weeks ago. I kept some of the same things I had out for winter and just swapped out a few others. I'm using the same elements I've used for the past couple of years , just in different ways.  I also kept the succulents in place as they go well with summer and beach decor.   Here's an overview of the whole mantel and hearth.

When I put out my beach mantel decor , I usually follow suit with a beachy tablescape. At least I did last year and this year. I made some changes this year, as last year I only had a centerpiece. Let's take a look: I purchased a set of white dishes with a Greek key pattern (Ross $19.99). They will be useful for many other tablescapes. I also picked up four of the blue goblets from Dollar Tree. I really wanted some rattan chargers or natural braided placemats, but I decided I had purchased enough and made due with the bamboo placemats. These came from Dollar Tree too and last year I used them to make a runner under the centerpiece. I'm using some fish net from Michael's this year as a runner. A closer look at the place setting: The napkin rings started out like this: 50 cents for the four of them from a thrift store. A little hot glue and some jute twine and now we have these: My favorite part of this is still the centerpiece. I used some...

It's almost officially summer so that means its time to pull out the summer decor, particularly my coastal decor. I started with my mantel. I made a large portion of my coastal decor last year . I've switched up the mantel just a little bit this year.

When I redecorated my mantel for summer with a beach theme, I also changed up the dining room centerpiece and entryway vignette. I didn't buy anything extra for this other than bamboo mats from the Dollar Tree. I used what I had and what was left from the mantel supplies.  I had planned to share sooner, but I'm just now getting around to posting this. Here's the dining room centerpiece:

I resisted the urge to redecorate the mantel as long as I could. After Halloween , Christmas , Valentine's Day , and Easter , I told myself I was not going to do anything else until we complete the makeover of this mantel and TV space. That may still be a long time coming and I got inspired by some beach and shell themed decor I saw around blog land. Knowing that I had some diy hurricanes and a box of seashells collected over the years, I decided that I should put them to use again. I'm glad I did. Here's my beachy mantel (warning: lots of pictures to follow).