Spring Has Sprung (at Least on Our Mantle)

So what if there are still snow drifts in our backyard. I am sooo ready for spring and I am putting up my spring decor. If there's still snow out there, so be it! I love changing out our mantle decor to reflect the season, so I figured I'd start there. Here is our $8 spring mantle:

I was inspired by several different DIY bloggers that recently created faux blossoming branches by hot gluing fake flowers to real branches; here's my version:

I took a little trip out to our front yard and collected several branches:

I put the branches in a white spray-painted vase that was originally red (the inside still has some red to it):

I bought a blue hydrangea stem at Walmart for $8:

This flower is the only new purchase I made to create the entire spring mantle scheme; everything else was repurposed from what we already had in our home. I clipped off only a small portion of the flower to use for the branches:

Then I cut off each individual flower petal from the small bunch:

No, our dog is not a smoker. She just thinks she's cool when she carries her raw hide around in her mouth like a stogie.

I was still able to use the remaining flower in a small arrangement in our living room:

The mirror has always been centered over the fireplace:

It's original color was an orange-y maple. I'm pretty sure this mirror was one of the first things in our house to go under the (white spray paint) gun. When it comes to painting something white, you can never go wrong in my opinion.

The twine jug was a recently finished bottle of cognac (my husband's not mine). I stick with my red wine. I hot glued some twine around this bottle and my husband is happily finishing a few other bottles of the good stuff for me to also wrap in twine. Just kidding. Sort of.

The small framed picture was a FREE vintage print found here. I recently posted about finding and framing vintage art here. I simply resized this print to a 5x7 size and I printed it out on white cardstock. The prints on this site all have expired copyrights so you are not violating copyright laws by printing out the images. The white frame was purchased at Christmas Tree Shop awhile back.

The 2 glass apothecary jars were leftover from our salt water taffy bar at our wedding. Read more about that DIY project here. I filled the jars mostly with shells I already had on hand (again, mostly leftover wedding decor), although some of those shells were also found on our honeymoon and a few are from our local beach.

Lastly, the driftwood was found on a recent walk on the beach with my hubby and the dog. Here are a few pics from that day:

Mr. C and the dog helping me find the goods.



She's on the prowl!

Here's our driftwood!

Kaylee thought this lobster trap was even cooler than the driftwood.

There are certain parts of the beach where you can even park your car. How cool is that?!

We had no idea what was buried underneath the sand here!

It was such a beautiful day, and then.....

Kaylee had an idea....

She's off! She's headed straight for....

The ocean! Here is the newest member of the polar bear club, taking a dip in the ocean.

If she's happy, then I don't care. :-) Let the record show that she was not happy thirty minutes later during a forced bubble bath at home. I still don't get why she loves swimming in the ocean (even when it's only forty degrees out) yet she despises the tub.

So that's the scoop on how we repurposed decor we already owned, found some washed up items on the shore, and spent a measly $8 total to create a spring mantle (which I can enjoy whether or not there's still some snow on the ground!)

This week I will be linking up to the following link parties:

Monday: The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Front Porch, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, House in Roses, Making the World Cuter, Keeping it Simple, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Super Stinky Boys, Mad in Crafts, Creating Really Awesome Free Things and http://diyhshp.blogspot.com.

Tuesday: Coastal Charm, Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, The Lettered Cottage, All Things Related, The Herber Family, Tip Junkie, The Gypsy Corner, and Creating a House of Grace.

Wednesday: Someday Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Faded Charm Cottage, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, and

Thursday: Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Tales from Bloggaritaville, House of Hepworths, Not So Crafty Crafts, The Virginia House, Delightful Order,  Allie Makes, and http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ .

Friday: Chic on a Shoestring, Romantic Home, Finding Fabulous, Common Ground, It’s a Hodge Podge Life, French Country Cottage, A La Carte, Just a Girl, Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Tatertots and Jello and Stuff and Nonsense.