The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney with Care...

...or would be, but we don't have any!
Yesterday, I shared photographs of our Chirstmas tree. Today I'd like to share our Christmas mantlepiece makeover!

Our mantlepiece itself is pretty cool, I think. It wasn't an original feature, but when my parents bought the house, the previous owners were ripping it out of their new house! So my parents had it from them :) Dad redid the tiling a few years ago when he had to get a new fire fitted.

Anyway, on with the decs!

I made the tiny hat for the cherub (I wrote briefly about them the other day!). The little wooden, painted ornaments used to go on the tree, but tend to break easily, especially at the mercy of feline paws!

The jar usually holds cotton wool balls on my desk. I took them out and refilled the jar with some scrap organdie and pine cones left over from my wreath and garland. The 'Christmas' sign belongs to Mum; she received it from a friend a couple of years ago! (The angels and behatted charub on the mantlepiece belong to her, too).

Usually these beaded ornaments (the reindeer and the candy canes, plus the bear in the first picture) hang on the tree. The normal case is that Riley steals them one by one and we find them months later under the sofa!

The bronze deer came from a church Christmas fair I went to a couple of weeks ago. It only cost me £1! I don't usually go for metal like this, but I thought he was lovely!

Of course, I had to pop some more cheeky little robins here and there!

I made this 'twisty tree' using a metal thing (candle holder I think) that I bought from a charity shop. There were a pair of them:

It was only £1 for the pair! I think originally they would have been hung up the opposite way around. But I thought they'd be good for an unusual tree! I simply wrapped one with some scrap fabric bought at another charity shop, sewed on some beads and hung the little picture at the top. :)

The little white cherub (there's three on the mantlepiece right now) came from a fantastic outlet shop in Brighton! Most of their stuff is leftover or damaged stock, or slight seconds. The cherubs were 25p each. So I bought 12! Am still making up my mind what to do with them yet, haha.

My middle sister and I have been joking that the bear looks a little shifty. Maybe he's up to no good? Perhaps he's trying to steal candy canes?! Either way, he's up to something...