Family Heritage Mantel

Right now I have very few stresses in my life, honestly.  I have no babies and no teenagers.  That should tell you all you need to know.

I do, however, stress about what's up on my mantel. 

"Stress" might be a bit of an overstatement, but I do consider it.  Considerably.

So this awkward time here betwixt Easter and the 4th of July had me baffled.  Would I need to figure out some kind of "everyday" look rather than a holiday?  Wha??  

See.  Stress. :)

THANK GOODNESS I met and became best friends with the cute girls from Orange Blossom Shop at SNAP!  I then tricked them into sending me a couple of their so-cute-I-can-hardly-stand-it frames!   I was dying to use one somewhere ASAP so this became the starting point to my new Family Heritage Mantel.  I guess this could be for this upcoming Memorial Day?  It's a stretch but let's say yes!

A couple of things I love about the frames they have... firstly, adorable shapes, tons of sizes, fun colors, etc.  Secondly, they have the most amazing finish on them.  I know this, because we compared Etsy shop notes at SNAP!, but they have them sprayed with a super high quality paint and, believe me, it is obvious.  The front and back are gorgeous.  Plus they are routed out in the back for your photo and have a nice non-reflective piece of plexiglass as well.

And then perfectly distressed?   I should say so!    I love this aqua blue, don't you?  They also send me a white one which you can sure as heck bet is going to be on my 4th of July mantel. I can't wait!  Go check them out if you get a chance HERE.  I promise they have paid me nothing to say any of this.  I am just loving the look and quality of their frames and I adore Shauna and Courtney!

Anyway, so I knew I wanted to use my new blue frame.  I started walking around my house looking for things that might go along with it.  I've had this fun family tree at the top of my stairs for a while now and decided it needed a place of prominence for a bit.   I got it at my family reunion auction (that deserves a whole post in and of itself) a couple of years ago.  I sent my cousin-in-law (who had donated it to the auction) all of my and my husband's family information and she filled it all in and sent it to me.  I LOVE IT!

Some final touches to my "Family Heritage Mantel" were to print off photos of my great maternal grandparents, David and Minnie,  and put them in matching frames.  I also went and got some flowers from Hobby Lobby (50% off right now!).  I was kind of wanting a wildflower look... you know, like Laura Ingalls Wilder could have gathered them up from that field she runs through at the beginning of each episode.

The fun thing is the kids, of course, asked who those people were in the frames.  It started a discussion about how we were related to them, where they were born and when.  I don't know about you but that isn't a normal topic for the Anderson household!  It was a nice break from sports, Harry Potter and why haven't we gotten a new puppy yet.  :)



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