Sweet Brynne asked me last week if I would do a post about the items on my mantle. I thought it was a great idea. I take most of my outfit photos in front of my fireplace, because of the convenience. I love the items on my mantle. Each piece is special to me. I am excited to share!

First, let’s talk about the painting above the mantel in case you missed my post about one of my favorite artists, Ginette Callaway. In 2004, I commissioned sweet Ginette to paint me a peacock for above our newly tiled fireplace.

Ginette really came through. She painted three paintings and let me choose one. My biggest regret is not buying two. I loved another one as well. Actually all three were stunning. The other one I vividly remember showcased a smaller peacock with a giant fan of feathers in colors of the rainbow, but mostly lavender hues. Gorgeous.

But I love this painting. I love Ginette. The painting makes me happy every day to look at it.

In the center of our mantel is a Lego VW Bus. My husband and son love Legos. My husband has a 1967 VW Bus that we adore. I bought this for my husband as a Christmas present a few years ago. They built it together.

This year, Lego offered a free (my favorite word) mini Lego VW Bus with an online purchase. It happened to be near my son’s birthday. Score!

The felted gnomes riding the dragon and the VW Bus are from Moongoat on Etsy. I love her shop. I have many of her gnomes hidden throughout my house. I cannot resist a felted gnome.

The little girl gnome is from ABC Carpet and Home in New York. It is the most amazing store. Every time I am in New York, it is my favorite shop to visit. I cannot afford most things there, but I have managed to snag a deal on each of my trips.

I had seen the gnome when I had gone on a family trip in June three years ago. She was part of a trio (a scruffy male gnome and a wizard gnome). They were $48 a piece (the store is pricy). I do not know if the gnomes were antiques. They had been loved on. Hard. I obviously was not going to spend $144 on three felted gnomes. I left them behind.

In September of that same year, I took a trip to New York with my girlfriends. We visited this store. The gnomes were still there. Their tags were removed. I asked the sales girl how much they were now. She sold them to me for $10 each. And she wrapped them up so cute.

I gifted them to my husband when I got home.

Every year my husband and I go on a two to three night trip for our anniversary sans kids (this year it is Vegas). On one of the trips, we went to San Francisco. In a small little store in Chinatown, I spotted this amazing rope dragon (my husband collects dragons). I remember he was $45. And he always has a gnome riding him. Although, it may not always be the same one. ; )

About three years before my grandmother passed away, she gifted me this jar of buttons. The jar was my great grandmother’s. Her and I looked very much alike. She was Polish. And I once got chased through the college campus by a little old man who wanted to know the exact place I was born in Poland. Anyway, I never met her. Half of the button’s were also my great grandmother’s. The other half my grandmother purchased off of eBay. My jar of buttons is one of my favorite things in my home. I like the idea of my grandma shopping on eBay. I also like the history of the jar and the buttons.

The green candle hanging from the jar was made by my daughter in the fifth grade. Fifth grade is when the children in California learn about Colonial Times. At our school, they have a day where all of the kids dress up in colonial clothes and participate in activities that they would have done back then. I have been waiting to add a candle made by my son for years. This year he is in the fifth grade. I have made him promise me he will choose candle making as one of his activities. Hopefully, the mantle will have a new addition soon.

And the beehive candle was a Christmas present from my stepmom. It is made from my dad’s beeswax (he is a beekeeper). I LOVE it.

The small blue candlesticks were a Christmas gift from my mother some years ago. I love the color. I love everything about them. They are perfect!

The beaded purple candle holders were some of my first purchases from Anthropologie. I waited for them to go on sale. This was many years ago.

The felted gnome on the jar of buttons wearing the snail as a hat is also from Etsy. This one was done by Eve’s Little Earthlings. I think they are extremely cute.

I think with the snail on his head he looks like the man with the bird on his head from one of my favorite movies, “Labyrinth.”

The little pig next to them is from my favorite video game. The video game is Monster Hunter. The pig’s name is Poogie. In the video game I fight jelly beans (just kidding. We obviously fight monsters. I am quite the Monster Hunter. Not to brag or anything). My husband and I play it together. We each have Poogie in our house in the video game. You can change his clothes. If you pet him right, he does a backflip and little red hearts spring from his head.

Yep.

I actually have a stuffed Poogie on my husband’s desk in our bedroom. And I am also the proud owner of a blow up stuffed giant piece of meat (also from the video game). Maybe I should pose with it sometime.

Or not.

On either side of the mantle are two little roosters. I purchased them at an antique store a few years ago. They have remains of a cork on the bottom of them, so I assume they used to be wine stoppers. I think their colors are fantastic.

The little chipmunks were painted by my children many years ago from a pottery place in town. We have pieces like them all over the house.

The blue vase was a purchase my husband and I made on a family vacation to Arizona when my son was a year old. It was our only souvenir.

He bought me these orange roses on clearance this week (they are not doin’ so well). One of his favorite things to do is buy huge amounts of flowers for me after a holiday when the stores have a surplus of flowers to get rid of. One year, he bought me seven dozen beautiful red roses for $7!

He is sweet.

Next big after-holiday flower discounts? Easter and Mother’s Day!

It’s The Little Things: Displaying what you love, because the items mean love to you.

What is on your mantle? What is your favorite piece to display?

Thanks Brynne for the great idea! : )