Vintage Valentine Mantle

The combination of wanting to make some aged book page

wreaths that I had seen on Pinterest and coming across some

Victorian-looking cutouts at the craft store drew me into 

having a Vintage Valentine mantle this year. 

Well, and, to tell the truth, the books and wreath hanging hooks 

were still on the mantle from Christmas decorations so the 

Valentine decor theme was part inspiration and part laziness. 

All of the aged book pages on these wreaths came from one 

book.  The first wreath that I made from the book pages 

that were artificially aged was the Pointy Cone Wreath.

Another wreath that I had seen (but could not find a tutorial
 for) was one that looked like little scrolls...I just winged it. 

Toothpicks were added to the backs of the cutouts and then

 they were stuck in the foam wreath form. That way the wreath's 

decorations can be easily changed out for different seasons. 

The aged book page leaf wreath was the easiest one to do. 

Here's the tutorial I found on Pinterest if you would like to 

make one too.  This wreath is not the style I originally wanted

on this vintage mantle but I had to make a change in plans. 

Because I wanted to make this one interchangeable too, 

I added the "lolly" (here's a tutorial on how to make one)

with another vintage cutout glued onto it and hung by a string. 

The books on the mantle are ones that will NOT be torn up

to make wreaths.  I either love their uneven page edges,

spines or content too much to do that to them.

I ordered a "surprise box" from an internet company. 

I think the way it worked was you sent $20 and they sent you 

something worth at least that from their company's stock. 

When this pretty metal object arrived, I had no idea what it

was to be used for. One suggestion that was made was an

"ephemera" holder.  I had no idea what "ephemera" was either.

After researching that word, I think these pretty cutouts are

 a form of ephemera and they do work well on the "thing".  

To see the coffee table decor in the same room as 
the mantle click on "Vintage Valentine Lollies"
and/or if you would like to see more book page wreaths
in this room , click "Key To My Heart Vignette".