Back To School Mantel

As Labor Day approaches and summer comes to an end, children and teachers everywhere are returning to school and saying goodbye to the joys of summer. I always find this time of year a bit tricky when it comes to decorating because I'm really excited about fall and it's oh so close, but it's still 100 degrees out. So this year I decided to do a little back to school mantel display using things I already had around the house. I was pleasantly surprised today when I discovered PicMonkey had added the school effects, just in time for this blog post!

 

This was actually thrown together quite quickly since I just needed to remove a few summer things and replace them with vintage school items.

I can always find vintage and antique books fairly inexpensively at sales or the flea market and I hardly ever pass them up. I love the artwork and lettering, and sometimes I actually even read them. I always imagine how many little fingers have turned the pages in wonder long before the days of iPads, iPods and Kindles.

 

 

 

I am a music teacher but I always loved art class just as much as music. I loved coloring and cutting things out, especially little shapes and making collages. Not much has changed, since I now enjoy scrapbooking, and creating altered art and paper crafts.

 

 

 

 "Time For School" cloche. Truly a "use what you have" decoration, since the apple was starting to go bad in my crisper drawer.

 

 

 

Here is the picture that gave me the idea to do a school-themed mantel. I am always buying antique cabinet cards and vintage photos (another addiction) and although I do put some of them for sale in my antiques booth, I usually keep group photos. I just find all the faces so fascinating! This amazing photo of a teacher with her class outside of a one room school house is definitely a keeper! I have it displayed in a vintage flower frog along with a replica of a colonial alphabet chart purchased at Colonial Williamsburg.

 

 

I took a close-up so I could see the kids better, and I realized the kids are barefooted, just like my Grandfather always said: "Back in those days we had to walk to school barefooted!" It's true! They did!

And then I noticed that the teacher is showin' some skin! Not at all what I imagined from those days. I would picture a blouse with a lace collar  buttoned up high and a long sleeved black dress! I guess a 100 degree one room-school house full of a bunch of kids of all ages would make any teacher sweat! I'm thinking this picture was from the 1920's based on the style of her dress and haircut. Maybe she was a flapper by night! Have teachers always had to have two jobs to make a living??? 

Hope everyone has a happy and safe school year, and if you know of a good teacher be sure to give them lots of encouragement and support. It's not an easy job and judging from the old photo, it never has been! 

Have a great weekend!

Amber

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