fooling the eye

Spring has sprung! Well, almost. A few flowers have started peeking through the hard ground, but there is still a lack of green grass and very few buds on the trees. What to do? Answer: create a spring-y mantle. My eyes need some fresh greenery in their lives.

My two-year-old calls these our "blueberries"

 -- Pretty flower in our front flower bed --

I wanted something easy and something that effectively (but not with pastel color overload) communicated Spring. This was mostly a "shop the house" experience, which proved to be a lot of fun. Another fun aspect was bringing up a couple treasures my husband and I found on a great discount from Pottery Barn post-Christmas. There were several areas of Spring decor that were greatly reduced and we couldn't help but think that was the perfect time to snatch them up! It's like buying your child the next season/year's clothes and opening up the box to a bunch of newness.

I'm probably going to squeeze a lot of photos in here, so just bear with me.

The idea of a fresh mantle began when the ever-inspiring Lisa Leonard inspired me with some of her own craftiness. I just loved how a fresh coat of spray paint made her owls come alive. Well, at least in a decor sense. The other way would be plain scary.

So here is a little guy I found for cheap at Goodwill. And following is his transformation in which he will never feel the same again. He's currently booked for several interviews regarding his new look. Sometimes the thoughts just keep coming and I don't know how to stop them. Stop them. Stop. Them. Stop...

Admittedly, I walk by and just admire him. In all his refreshed blue-ness.

All right, I did it. I caved and jumped on the moss letter train. I first saw them showcased in the Pottery Barn catalog and thought to myself "surely, I can make one of those!" and apparently thousands of other people thought the same. ;) Why not? It's some good stuff. I will say it was a messy process and I was not precise about it at all. I was more concerned with actually finishing my Spring mantle before it was Fall again. I didn't really follow another blogger's tutorial, which may have been my downfall. ha!

So I messily applied green craft paint to the letter just to cover the base. I then took my "reindeer moss" that I had left over from my Thanksgiving table-scape and proceeded to hot glue and press, hot glue and press. And repeat as needed. As I said, really not a perfect outcome. It's one of those things you just want to stand far back and enjoy. Really far back. And squint. But, it serves its purpose of filling the dead space of one of my empty frames {another Goodwill find}, and for that, I'm happy.

'Fake a pennant', by yours truly.

I literally traced a simple triangle, cut them out of leftover fabric, stenciled on with craft paint and then fabric glued them to a jute string. I mean, it's almost embarrassing how unofficial I am. Actually, scratch that, it's more like inventive and easy, right? ha. Oh, and try not to let the paint-covered stencil fall paint side down on your wood floor. Always best to avoid those kinds of incidents.

I am going for more of 'achievable' than perfection, if you can't tell by now. Still, it is nice to see.... from a distance. :) The word choice of "bloom" is a call to all things Spring. Come on, now.

Next up, the Pottery Barn finds {rustic, metal-y goodness}, vintage books {one paper covered}, and of course, the blue owl. On the following end sits a bird's nest that was blown into our yard last Fall during a torrential wind storm. Thankfully, being Fall, all cute birdies had since departed, but I couldn't just part with such a piece of nature's artwork and decided to hang on to it until I could find something to do with it. Voila! Next to the nest and bird sits a lovely two dollar bird cage that I found at an indoor flea market a while back. One of my favorite items.

I had to showcase these a little more up close. I know the title is hard to see, but the top book is "Love is Eternal" and documents the love story between Abraham Lincoln and {his wife} Mary Todd. I found this at Goodwill for 1.99 and couldn't pass it by, for the title alone, but Lincoln is one of my favorite Presidents. So, it just made sense. 

Secondly, isn't that nest impressive? Speaking of nests {and I am starting to feel like I am stealing from nature..} I found another one in a pile of leaves I was raking from the back yard. This one is so delicate and precious. I felt sad that the wind had taken it from its original landing place, but thought it proper to showcase this one as well. This is set up on our entry table.

Isn't it precious? God's creation is amazing.

 So, that completes the mantle 'tour.' And here is what it looks like collectively. 

Thanks for stopping by and bearing with my incredibly long absences. I have had fun putting my hand to a few things around the house. Have a happy day!

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