Canada Day Mantel and Free Printables

July 1st, 2012 will be Canada’s 145th birthday. To celebrate my Canadian roots, I made my first ever Canada-themed mantel!

I dipped into my stash of red decor from my Valentine’s Day mantel, and then added some Canadian touches.

The license plate was something that Mr. Mechanic pulled out of our fireplace when he attempted to repair the masonry. The previous owners modified the size of the firebox and tried to fill the gap between the bricks by stuffing it full of random metal garbage. We found at least 6 plates, but this one was definitely in the best shape.

The Pop Shoppe bottle brings back memories of drinking Lime Rickey pop at my Grandparents’ house growing up. It was originally bottled very close to where I live. There was always a crate of these hiding in a closet somewhere. This is a fairly new bottle, but I have a crate full of these waiting for me up north in the shed at the cottage.

The globe was from Michaels and I bought it with a 50% off coupon so it only cost me $2.50. You will see it popping up in another vignette that I created with some fun garage sale finds.

The flag artwork is my first Canada Day printable created using the digital scrapbooking software My Memories Suite.

I created an 8 x 10 printable that has a background made up of all the names of Canada’s provinces and territories.

{Download your own copy here!}

I also created a second My Memories Suite printable that is not shown on the mantel.

The burlap paper effect that I chose for the background has a more rustic look to it that did not go as well with the white of my other mantel decor. It is on display in my Kitchen instead.

{Download your own copy here}

On the other side of the mantel, you will spy this little vignette.

Of course, I had to include some red paint chips in my Canada Day decor!

I lined a Gem mason jar (made in Canada) with a large paint chip and also used one as the background in my Michaels dollar bin frame. I happened to have a package of Canada-themed charms from a Walmart clearance jewelry purchase last year. My school hosted a Canadian citizenship ceremony so I wore a flag charm on my necklace to show some Canadian patriotism. I mounted the charm onto the paint chip with a foam dot.

The ombre artwork was created in Silhouette Studio using this tutorial and the Print and Cut feature. It was so easy! Even if you don’t have a Silhouette machine, the software is free to download and there is a free weekly shape released every Tuesday.

I also created my banner with my Silhouette and my favourite pennant shape.

I cut three red pennants, four white pennants and two maple leaves (divided in half). Then, I attached the maple leaves to the white pieces with spray adhesive.

Once the pieces were cut and assembled, I used a punch tool to add silver eyelets and then threaded all the pieces onto red and white Baker’s twine.

I knew that I wanted to use an odd number of pennants so it worked out perfectly that the center piece of red could tie together both flags.

That’s it!

I had so much fun putting together all the elements of my Canada Day mantel. I hope that if you’re a Canadian you might include one of my printables in your decor this July 1st!

Come back tomorrow for the giveaway details on how to win your own copy of My Memories Suite!

P.S. Check out my other seasonal mantels here, here and here!

P.P.S. The red bandana was just a Dollar Store purchase.

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