How to create a quick, easy, and cheap Christmas Mantel in minutes with dollar store finds and shopping your home. It is a minimalist style winter scape that could be kept on display after the holidays.

This mantle scape works well if you have a television hanging directly above the fireplace, limiting the height of the decor you can use.

Easy Inexpensive Winterscape Christmas Mantel

We have a small electric fireplace in our basement media room that is a challenge to decorate because of the large television hanging directly above it. Not being able to incorporate taller elements in a mantle scape that would block the screen and infrared sensor, limits the decorations.

Choosing a minimalist decorating style, especially on a small fireplace, helps to eliminate visual clutter. Incorporating glass and mirrors to reflect the light from a strand of white fairy lights adds a festive sparkle.

Because the mantel is situated so close to the television, battery-operated tealights are set inside white snowball tealight candleholders to add pretty flickering light to the winter scape. The white snow pops from inside the cute winter scape dioramas inside the jars.

A simple evergreen garland hangs from the fireplace with a strand of white fairy lights. I've since added an old-fashioned Christmas faux sugar-dipped fresh cranberry garland (not pictured) to the evergreen garland for a pop of festive red.

We use this room a lot in the winter, especially during the holidays, to watch movies and the tiny fireplace keeps us warm and cozy down there. I wrote a post about one of our favorite Christmas traditions and how to make holiday movie nights extra special.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to decorate the fireplace mantel, almost all of the DIY projects shared here at Interior Frugalista have step-by-step tutorials so why not get your budget DIY on and subscribe. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

What You'll Need To Make It

To keep costs down, shop your home for glass jars and mirrors. Otherwise, you can find everything you need for this winter scape mantel at the dollar store.

Depending on the size of your fireplace you'll need at least three glass jars. I used five on our small 3-foot wide fireplace, some I already had on hand. Every year the dollar store has pretty glass snowflake jars with wire clasp lids for holiday baking and they are a perfect size.

Alternatively, you could recycle larger food jars or any glass vessels that you have on hand. They don't have to have a lid either.

You'll also need some bottle brush trees, miniature houses, and figurines, all of which you can find at the dollar store. If you can't find tiny Christmas village houses, look for house ornaments instead. Don't worry if they are not white, you can easily paint them.

You also need a large bag of Epsom salts for the faux snow. Even better, I found scented eucalyptus Epsom salts at the dollar store to add a festive scent to the mantel scape.

You'll want an assortment of miniature figurines like snowmen and wildlife to incorporate into your Christmas jar dioramas. The dollar store usually carries a good selection of Christmas village figurines to choose from.

Some of the items pictured below may seem familiar if you've been following me for a while. The adorable vintage camper, Christmas tree, Santa, and others items were used in my Retro North Pole Christmas In A Jar display last year.

You'll also want narrow white, silver, snowflake, or wintery ribbon for the top of each jar.

Shop your home or the thrift stores for a long rectangular mirror or a few small mirrors to set on top of the mantel. I use a set of three mirrors that I purchased several years ago from Avon that fit perfectly across our mantel.

I apologize for the ugly reflection of our workshop ceiling in the photo below.

Supply List

Glass Jars
Rectangular Mirror(s)
Epsom Salts
Small Bottle Brush Trees
Christmas Village Figurines
Miniature Houses or House Ornaments
Narrow Snowflake Ribbon (or winter color ribbon)
White Fairy Lights On Timers
Votive Candleholders
Battery-Operated Tealights
Faux Snow

Let's take a closer look inside each winter scape Christmas jar, shall we?

How To Create A Simple Winterscape Christmas Mantel

DIY Winterscapes In A Jar

First, wash the jars and let them completely dry before moving on to the next step. Fill the bottom of each jar with 1-2 inches of Epsom salts. Set your houses, bottle brush trees, and miniatures inside the jars. Can't get any easier than that!

Wrap ribbon around the top of each jar with a dab of hot glue to hold in place. Now we're ready to decorate the fireplace mantle with our festive winter scenes in a jar.

Creating Fireplace Mantle Scape

1. Line the top of the mantle with a row of mirrors or one long rectangular mirror.
2. Set the diorama jars across the mirrors in a zigzag pattern.
3. Add a couple of tealight candle holders but it's important that you use battery-operated tealights if you have a television hanging above the fireplace.
4. Optional - weave a strand of mini white fairy lights on timers between each jar.
5. Sprinkle faux snow on the mirrors.

Fireplace Garland

Hang a simple evergreen garland on the fireplace mantel. Illuminate it at night by wrapping a strand of battery-operated white fairy lights on a timer through the garland for added sparkle.

Enjoy your Christmas winter scape fireplace mantel during the holidays and throughout the winter months ahead.

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this Christmas mantel decorating idea.

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