I spent a few minutes this week to change over my Easter-themed mantle decorations to a more generic spring theme, which meant removing the adorable eggs I made.
I hadn’t planned on making anything new to add to what was up there, but it seemed a little bare and I wanted something with a little height to balance out the chalkboard so I ran out the back yard and grabbed a few broken sticks from the pile of debris we have waiting to be cleaned up.
To hold them together and keep them from falling all over in the wide-mouthed vase I was using, I grabbed a big rubber band from the junk drawer (saved from an asparagus bunch from the grocery store).
It looked okay just as it was, but to me, the bare branches looked a little wintery. It needed some color.
Lucky for me, I have plenty of creativity and extra craft supplies just waiting to be used up.
I grabbed a few paper roses (made for Elizabeth’s book-themed bridal shower last spring–here’s the post about that) and took them off of the wooden Popsicle sticks that I used to prop them up in the vases for her centerpieces.
Then, using a dab of hot glue…
I placed them on the branches. I think they look better when they’re not at the very end of the branches so I stuck them on the forks between two branches in a few places, which seemed to look pretty good.
Then I cut out a few circles from some yellow and blue scrapbook paper, and some hearts from some dictionary pages. (I also used dictionary pages for the Easter banner I made, here, so I’m keeping the bookish theme going this spring.)
I wanted to drape these decorations on the branches loosely instead of gluing them on like leaves so I hot glued them to a piece of twine.
Then, I carefully, and a bit pain-stakingly, draped the paper garland on the branches in a way that fell in a seemingly freeform way. I think it turned out pretty well for a free decor piece made from scraps and yard waste.
I’m loving how it looks up on the mantle with the rest of the spring stuff. Stay tuned for the rest of the spruced-up spring decorations.
Ever made art or decor pieces with yard waste? Send me a picture or a link—I’d love to check it out!
Reminds me of kites that are stuck in a tree after a breezy spring day….. 🙂
Nice!
So creative and cute! Love your blog, found Newlywed wife the other day, and read it for two days straight until I finished and have been following this one. Blessed wishes to you and Wyatt.
Welcome! Thanks for joining us at Loving Here! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the posts so far and we look forward to connecting with you more here! Thanks!
i need to go from Easter to Spring too! 🙂 it’s funny. mu hubbie doesn’t get the mantel decorating thing. i decided i wasn’t going to do a mother’s day mantel and said “well there’s nothing until july 4.” but i forgot about spring! and i guess i forgot about summer too. maybe you could do a post for us about all the mantels you do!
Thanks for the request! That’s a great idea to put them all in one place for quick reference! Good luck on your spring decorating! It’s one of the most fun seasons, although I do love them all!