Spring Mantle

I have had a few different vignettes on my mantle since Christmas, but I haven't taken time to share them with you.  I am thinking that next fall I will create a seasonal mantle post and highlight the ever changing displays that come and go in my living room.  For now, I want to share this vignette with you.

It is incredibly random, but I love it!

I picked up this bust at the flea market over the weekend.  If you have never been to the Kane County Flea, I highly recommend it!!!

I originally had a banner that said "Spring", but I ended up with "Bloom", and I like it!

I also picked up this little architectural piece at the flea.  It weighs about 15lbs. It's ridiculous, but I couldn't resist the chippy paint and fantastic rust!  Eeeeeeeee!!!! (That's me, squealing.)  So sweet!

Does anyone remember the family auction I went to last year? Remember how I waited and waited with all those farmers for this dear, little sewing drawer?  I still love her! ;)

I also have a number of old photographs from the auction.  I like to think that these two photos are of the same two boys.  I have no idea who they are, but I pretend that they are brothers and best of friends. Mmmmmmm....family can be lovely.

Okay.  These bird cages are REALLY random.  They started out a sort of green and gold color.  I lightly spray painted them with brown, but I like the character of the green and gold peeking through.  I had the cages sitting on the mantle, but they were empty and just looked...well...empty!  I have several different birds that would have worked in them, but that was too expected.  So, what did I end up with?  A wooden pineapple that I sprayed white for one cage, and a bunch of old, crumpled book pages for the other. I was going for "quirky", but did I miss quirky and head straight to "crazy"?  If so, I am totally fine with crazy.  ;)

When I needed something small for this vignette, I knew exactly what I was going to use. This little jar of buttons came from my great-grandmother's sewing box.  I still use her sewing box and almost everything in it--thimbles, tape, pin cushion, etc.--but this little jar of old buttons is too sweet to be disturbed.  I love that great-grandma separated out the neutral buttons and kept them safe in this little jar. I added some other jars of beads and corks that fit with my neutral theme.  **Side note: The three jars with beads and corks are just recycled jars.  Nothing special.  I think they were once a jelly jar, salsa jar, and a candle.  I like to keep small jars because you never know when inspiration will strike! When I was creating this display, I gathered several jars from my stash, and this is what I ended up with.

I really liked the way this old pail looked in the vignette, but it needed something.  I tried a few different things, and decided some pillows would add nice height and texture.  I tied a biece of burlap around a pillow form for one pillow.  Honestly, I was going to make a white pillow case for the form, but what would be the point of that?  If I hadn't told you it was a just a form with no case, would you have noticed?  Probably not!  Then I took some left over drop cloth fabric (from an abandoned project!) and quickly made a couple of pillows.  Literally, it took less than ten minutes to sew the cases, stuff them with batting, and stitch up the opening.  I embellished the small pillow with some twine and a book page "tag", and I rubbed a very small amount of distressing ink across the front of the pillow. For the larger pillow, I just added a scrap of a doily, a few rosettes, and some vintage "pearls".  Quick and lovely.  My kind of project!

 Just another shot of my sewing drawer!

And one more shot of the entire display.

Now I am off to work on a present for my sister--don't tell her, mmmmkay? What are you working on today? Wherever you are, whatever your project, I hope you enjoy the Son!

Comments

[Husband to this amazingly creative woman!!!]

Another one that you knocked out of the park!!! I'm so blessed to have you make our house a home. I love your style!!!!!

[garage equipment]

All of us have different kind of collection. Some people choose to collect vintage things because it is hard to find and only few can have this.