DIY sweater vases and neutral winter mantel

 

I love the cozy look of sweater vases. You can buy them   or make  your own like Stephanie Lynn or Chessa did. All you need is a sweater you don't want to wear or one from the Goodwill ($3.69 or $3.89) and of course a vase to cover. If you don't have a vase, you can get one for $1 at the Dollar Tree. You may want a glue gun or another adhesive.

 

Here's the sweater I started with. It had sleeves, but I had already cut them off by the time I got to this photo.

 

 

The sleeve is the best part for the vase. Cut it off and slip it on your vase with the cuff end at the top. I love the cable knit look.  

 

 

You can permanently adhere the sweater on the bottom with hot glue, but I wanted to be able to use my vase again without the wrap so I adhered mine with glue dots. I cut a few slits in the bottom and then folded under for a better fit.

 

 

For the second one I just took the left over part of the sleeve and wrapped a small hurricane. I just turned the top and bottom ends under. No sewing, no gluing- easy.

I used my sweater vases to set up a neutral winter mantel to pass the gap from Christmas to Valentine's Day or Spring, whichever mantel gets done next. My mantel isn't too much winter theme because we don't have a true winter here so it seems odd to put out snowflakes and such.  I just used some ordinary items with the sweater vases and some epsom salts in the candle holders.

 

 

On the other side of the mantel I have my diy Christian theme subway art that I made last year. I also have some decorative balls in a bowl. My diy jute and twine balls are mixed in there.

 

 

 

I have two tall vases on the hearth with candles and dried beans for filler. Sorry about the blurry picture. 

 

 

So, what do you do with your mantel after Christmas?

 

I'll be sharing here:

 

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