I know a lot of people are getting their fall stuff out, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Fall is still more than 3 weeks away, and it is nearly100 degrees here. I can't pull out the scarecrows and pumpkins just yet. But there is something I *CAN* stand behind.
College football.
My husband and I are big college football fans. We both went to the University of Wisconsin, and that is where our allegiance lies. Since the Badgers officially kicked off their season on September 1st, I knew exactly how I was going to deck out my mantle until the official start of fall.**
I immediately when to work researching what I could possibly include in a football mantlescape. There isn't a lot of precident out there. Leo at CottageAtTheCrossroads recently broke out his football mantle, unbeknownst to his wife. He had a lot of great football related stuff.. I am not that lucky. We don't even own a football. I had to get creative.
College football.
My husband and I are big college football fans. We both went to the University of Wisconsin, and that is where our allegiance lies. Since the Badgers officially kicked off their season on September 1st, I knew exactly how I was going to deck out my mantle until the official start of fall.**
I immediately when to work researching what I could possibly include in a football mantlescape. There isn't a lot of precident out there. Leo at CottageAtTheCrossroads recently broke out his football mantle, unbeknownst to his wife. He had a lot of great football related stuff.. I am not that lucky. We don't even own a football. I had to get creative.
We do own a lot of Badger gear.. so I used my Bucky Badger golf club cover and golf towel along with a pom pom set I found at the dollar store (I only wish they had red instead of orange.) We also had a musical football (I am not really sure where that came from) and my kids built football goal posts this month at the Home Depot kids' workshop. I admit I spray painted over the original rainbow paint job.. but luckily the kids didn't mind.
As always, I added a pennant banner to the front of the mantle. I used 4 sheets of scrapbook paper ($0.59/each) that I cut into triangles and sewed together with my sewing machine.
Lastly, I added another banner to the mirror. It was a 12 foot long football banner I got at the dollar store, but I cut it apart and sewed it back together to get the layered look.
The entire investment was $6.36
Scrapbook paper $2.36
Pom pom set $1
Footballs $2
Banner $1
And the kids are super excited to get their hands on the pom poms and footballs as soon as this mantle comes down. Add two more to the list of people chomping at the bit for fall to arrive.
**okay, that is a little fib. My friend Beth suggested a football mantle when I was lamenting that I didn't want to drag out my fall stuff just yet.. I give her all the credit for the idea!
