hey you guys and welcome back to another year of the 12 days of Christmas come on in I will be humbly honest but this year's mantle is probably my favorite yet and today I'm gonna share with you how to achieve the designer look in just a few simple steps it's so easy you guys if you're not even gonna believe it it's really all in how you layer your garlic together and although I tend to splurge a bit on my garland you don't have to spend a lot of money to achieve a very similar look before we get into the details I'd like to share a quick message about a cause that's near and dear to my heart hey you guys and welcome to the 2018 edition of the 12 days of Christmas before we get started with this video I wanted to share something kind of special that we're doing to give back to our community here in Tampa we are absolutely the biggest fans of a local nonprofit organization called a kids place of Tampa Bay they work to keep siblings together who have been removed from their homes so what we decided to do is to donate 10% of any of the proceeds generated from the 12 days of Christmas videos here on YouTube back to a kids place and the way you can help is simply by watching the videos every time you watch or share it helps us to give more back to them so I hope you're inspired by that I'll have a link to their website in the description box if you'd like to go and find out more information about their organization or to give directly to them thank you for a fabulous year thank you for sharing this time with me I wish you much love and peace Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays we have a lot to cover today so I will try to talk fast but not too fast first thing is that if this mantel design is a little too over-the-top for you no worries I've got another video that I'll link in the description box from last year with a much simpler design but for me this year I wanted to really go big also when I designed this fireplace in builtin I had the electrical outlet built into the mantle specifically for the garland for the holidays so if you have the opportunity to do that it's very very helpful this time of year I'll share a little bit about this garland I've had this garland for several years even in our old house and it is hands-down probably one of my favorite pieces because it's so versatile and beautiful this garland is six feet long and it's a mixture of Frazier and balsam tips and I've actually used two of them here layered and woven in together held by command strips and chanel stems for extra security the secret really is combining the two pieces of Garland and weaving them and together to make them look like one piece and then for a real razzle dazzle effect I brought in a third piece that you guys saw me use on the dining room table last year but it looks a little different because I sprayed it and weave that in over the top of these two pieces the idea here is to make it look as full as you can without making it look like separate pieces so you really have to do your due diligence and weaving it all together and a quick note I ended up spraying the rest of the garland after the tree arrived because it just wasn't quite wide enough I wish they made this cascading garland flocked they don't yet but if they do I sure will try to get my hands on it because it is beautiful really wherever you put it your staircase banisters outside it's just a gorgeous piece and basically all I'm doing here you guys is really working to intertwine all the pieces together I can't stress enough how important that is and it makes a huge difference in the final product and normally at this point after I'm done leaving everything together I would add my ribbon but as you can see this year I didn't use ribbon so afterwards I went straight into using the picks to enhance the look I found these really pretty whimsical white and red picks Michaels at the end of the season last year and then I found these gorgeous beauties these are the glittered streamer tree picks from Pier one I found them at a Christmas in July sale and picked them up but they do have them back this season and they're in a few different colors and I use them all over the house they use them in the garland and in the tree and then the staircase Garland as well they really make like a lovely statement and for me the final effect was just absolutely amazing I love how the garland looks like it's just overflowing from the mantle and this is a nice evening shot for you the red glittered streamer picks at just the perfect touch of sparkle and of course the traditional colors are classic and timeless as I said earlier I truly love the way everything turned out it just makes my heart sing when I'm standing in the kitchen and doing dishes and talking to the kids and I hope you walked away with some goodies as well thank you again and until next time love and peace