Watercolor Inspired Spring Mantel

Well it's finally feeling like Spring here! 

After a beautiful weekend reaching into the 70's, we had another round of snow on Tuesday, leaving everything covered in ice topped with inches of snow. 

Bleh.

BUT that meant I had a little more time to play around with the shelves in our dining room that I call my mantel. 

When I blogged about my fall mantel, I explained how we have two fireplaces and no mantels... weird. So I whipped up a couple cafe shelves, and now I have a spot to decorate seasonally. 

Funny story about those shelves: I had been wanting to make them for a year or so, but I didn't have an air compressed nail gun. After our second son was born at the end of March, I told my husband that for Mother's Day I really wanted an air compressor with a nail gun and paint sprayer. So on Mother's Day morning we set out to Home Depot, my boys and me, and I got me an air compressor. I'm sure the employees were thinking, "Poor lady. Her husband dragged her, her 6 week old baby and 2 year old son to Home Depot on Mother's Day!" Little did they know...

ANYWAY! I had planned to make these lovely little coffee filter flowers, but after I dyed a couple dozen coffee filters, I thought maybe a wreath would be a nice focal point on the mantel. So that's what I did.

These sweet little cards are from my 30th Birthday! Yep... it's the beginning of a new decade. 

We celebrated with friends on Friday at a local brewery with amazing locally sourced food; appropriate since we live in Beer City USA. Then on Saturday we traveled down to my husband's sister's house to celebrate the 4 April birthdays on my in-law's side. I don't know about you, but April is BY FAR the busiest month for birthdays for us. I personally know 12 people whose birthdays are between the 9th and the 13th. 4th of July must have been fun! ;)

I made this colorful sign on a piece of scrap wood using the pencil transfer method and some acrylics. I love how it turned out! It's a nod to my favorite song in "The Sound of Music", "Edelweiss".

The colorful painting was done by my not quite 4 year old. I love that my boys love to do arts and crafts! His forte right now seems to be cutting, but he really enjoys different methods of painting, and our newest is watercolor. So I used a buy one get one free frame that I picked up at Michael's last weekend. I got 2 good size frames for $21! Awesome!

He also painted this wooden bird two years ago for Mother's Day. It's been a staple in my Spring decor ever since! I decided to put it inside a bird cage I picked up at a new store in our area "At Home". It's pretty much a warehouse full of anything you could dream of for your house, and the largest selection of outdoor cushions I have ever seen in one place! 

So that's it! 

Have you started decorating for Spring?

Linking up to:

I Heart Nap Time: Link Party Palooza #37

Design, Dining & Diapers: Inspiration Gallery Link Party   

The Cards We Drew: Sunday Soiree Link Party

A Bowl Full of Lemons:  One Project at a Time

The Holden Sycamore: Inspiration Gallery Link Party

Liz Marie Blog: Inspire Me Please - Linky Party

Fall Mantel - Let the Decorating Begin!

It's funny, our house has 2 fireplaces, and neither one has a mantel... yet.  A couple of years ago I built some cafe shelves, like those in the Ballard Design catalog, of course for a fraction of the price! I hung them in our dining room, and had great intentions of decorating for every holiday. Well, that quickly changed to every season, that way I'm not wasting time and money on a switch every other week, and we actually get the enjoy it for a while!

This year for our fall mantle, I decided to do a little thrift store shopping.

I had this brilliant plan to spray paint the 18x24 frame Oil Rubbed Bronze. I got about half way done, and ran out of paint! When I went to buy a new can, I decided that the Aged Copper was prettier, so I re-sprayed it. Then when I was stapling the chicken wire on the back, the frame split in opposite corners causing it to want to bend in half. At that point I threw up my hands, and said, "It looks fine as it is!" I still want to clip picture of my boys in their Halloween costumes throughout the year on it.

This tall candle holder was the first of a few thrift store purchases. I loved the shape of it, and the details. For only $1, I thought if I didn't like the finish, I would paint it. That was my original plan, but now I like its burgundy hue with black accents. I had the vine pumpkin from 2 years ago, and it fit well on top of the pillar holder. The squirrel was something my mom and M picked up from Kohls a year or two ago. Who wouldn't love a big carved squirrel? You can't see in the above photo, but behind the squirrel is my galvanized water pitcher from Ikea with some faux flowers in it.

Below that is a collection of thrifted candle holders that I got 2/$1. Again, I was thinking about painting them, but love the natural wood for this display. I took some glass bottles from the best BBQ sauce, wrapped the necks in raffia I already had, and put a stripe of cute duct tape around the body. For some reason the tape was marked at $.50 at Home Depot. I had to have it! I scattered in some faux leaves, that again, I already had. 

Next up is this cute little metal pumpkin. I adore it's curly vines! It was a steal at $2.

And on the far left bottom is yet another candle holder turned moss ball bowl. I love the shape, color, everything... $2! I might never shop at another big box store again. :) Well, as long as other people keep donating great items!
So my mantle cost me about $7 in new items. Everything else I already had, stored in the dark abyss I call my attic closet. Did you check out my super cheap corn husk wreath? Next up, I'll be tackling the outside of our home.

Linking up to:
Thrifty Decor Chick - Fall Mantel Party
House By Hoff - Get Your DIY On Link Party {Upcycled Projects!}
The Happy Housie - Work It Wednesday!

Love Grows Wild - Time to Sparkle Link Party #29