Graveyard Mantle

My fireplace mantle is usually the focal point of any holiday decorating. It's central in my upstairs living space, can be decorated without having to uproot my entire house, and since I have old school bricks usually looks pretty cool. Whenever I am in the kitchen cooking, dining room dining or living room.... well living, I can see my fireplace and enjoy the festive holiday decorations. This year I decided to turn my mantle into a graveyard. I have a lot of really cool skeletons that I love having out and they all went together nicely.  Here's what I came up with.

Meet Charles and Victoria. They are kind of the centerpiece of my display. I actually found them at  Value Village a few years ago. VV has really gotten into the Halloween business heavy the last few years and carries a lot of new merchandise. When I saw these I fell in love immediately and couldn't resist - they had to come home with me! (And yes, I do name all of my skeletons. Don't you?)

What graveyard display would be complete without grave stones and coffins? That awesome little jack-o-lantern skeleton lights up at night. Found him a few years back at Fred Meyer. As you can see from this picture, everything is sitting on top of a shredded piece of cloth. These are really easy to find at any Halloween store that goes up this time of year. I did a little extra shredding along the front, but this makes it look old and worn. I have also strung yellow Halloween lights all along the display, so it looks awesome after dark.

 

This is my newest addition. Jorge joined the family this year. As I was waiting for a prescription at Fred Meyer I was wandering around the Halloween decorations. Where else would I be?..... and for the record, I think that they make you wait for your prescriptions on purpose so you are forced to wander the store, find amazing things and spend money. Anyway, sorry, back on track. I saw Jorge and thought he was perfect. I love my little Mexican Mariachi Man.

This is my tree of terror. It's an awesome candelabra I found at Value Village a while ago. It was used and completely covered in candle wax. Awesome! It makes it look even better in my opinion. I love the thrift stores!! One of my favorite things to do is peruse through the thrift stores with my daughter seeing what kind of treasures we can find - especially during the holidays. You know the old saying, "one man's garbage is another man's treasure".

Fester has probably been with me the longest. I don't remember where and when I picked  him up, he's just always been there. He is big enough that he works great on the hearth. Also, small observation that I have been noticing all week. You know how when you see a face in something you can't un-see it? See that gourd there in the front? It totally looks like a skeleton hand grabbing a ball..... I know, right?! That's what I see now every time I look at it. I suppose it's appropriate however, since I have it sitting on display with all of my skeletons.

Hopefully this has inspired you. I get a lot of my ideas just by looking to see what other people have done, and then things just spring from there, so I love to share.

Happy decorating!