Nautical Inspired Summer Mantel: Anchor Art

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Ever since we took our family cruise in January, (and making anchor shirts) I have been slightly obsessed with anchors, so my summer mantel is inspired by everything nautical!  It all is focused around the anchor canvas I made with an inspirational quote inside.

Nautical Inspired Summer Mantel with free printable

I shared the anchor quote art over at TidyMom today (check it out!), it’s central to my mantel.  It’s got a quote that I just love as a reminder for my children to anchor themselves to the goodness that will keep them steady in the winds of life.

I’m all about using strong quotes in the decor of my home. I want inspirational phrases to be etched into the minds of my children as they go throughout the day, and beyond in their life.  We have a Family Home Evening lesson each Monday night, and last night, I taught the lesson on the importance of having strong anchors. I found this fabulous lesson online, and shared how anchors keep boats steady when they are tossed about in the wind.  It’s a great parallel to when the storms {of life} beat upon us, that they shall have no power over us…to drag us down to the gulf of misery…{One of my favorite scriptures: Helaman 5:12}

In our lesson, we talked about what the storms are (school, health, emotional challenges) how to strengthen our anchors (look to the Savior’s teachings, family bond) and that having a strong foundation won’t prevent us from storms, but will keep us from drifting too far during them. This mantel stands as a reminder to all of that! {Also love this print with that scripture, too.}

I put together this mantel from hacking existing decor I found at Hobby Lobby. Here is the before of all the items:

summer decoration

I just got some gold and blue paint, and went to town on all the pieces. I actually took back the smaller wheel, and just kept the bigger one, and sprayed it gold.  I used the blue shutter in my Sunshine Yellow and Orange summer mantel from two years ago. I loved that mantel so much, I had it up last summer as well. This year, I just wanted something different–something nautical;)

Here is a bit of an up close:

Nautical home decor inspiration

After I painted the Life Preserver (don’t look too close) I used a vinyl stencil to paint our last name and the year we were married on it.

I couldn’t decide if I should add in a third color or not, and after I tried a green from the dresser in that room, I decided to accent with a pattern of my two colors instead of a third color–hence the striped oar. I just put painters tape on around it and went to town.  I feel like I could do other Family Home Evening lessons about oars, life preservers, even the wheel! Maybe I will…

anchor nautical mantelYou can head on over to TidyMom to see how I made the canvas, or as another/easier option, you can print out the quote below. One of my fabulous artistic contributors, Sara from Confetti Sunshine, created it for this post! (Go check out her fun site!)

Screen Shot 2014-06-23 at 10.38.53 PM

DOWNLOAD ANCHOR PRINTABLE HERE

You might not feel you want to dedicate your mantel to the anchor theme, but when you think about all the great life analogy’s for anchors, it seems like the above quote could find a spot in your home;) If only to teach a family lesson on the importance of anchoring ourselves to goodness.

Here is peek at my summer mantel from the last two years (free sunshine printable on the link).

Orange and yellow sunshine summer mantel

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