Mantle-y Challenged

OK, so being in a rented home, my hands are somewhat tied.  I can’t hang too many pictures, paint, or unpack too much stuff.  And what I can do, I seem to have a mental block.  Or a mantle block for that matter.  One of the very easy things I can decorate is the fireplace mantle.  But I’m having trouble.  It looked like this:

But then I purchased some beautiful mercury glass pumpkins from Pottery Barn and a mercury glass pheasant from a local shop called The Brass Exchange. (I love you, Brass Exchange!)  Now it looks like this:

Still boring!!  I want it to look like this:

(courtesy of BHG)

or this:

(Courtesy of A Soft Place To Land)

So I’ve rustled up some leaves and a couple more pine cones.  This is what I have now:

Much more festive!