Spring decor with natural elements and textures

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope your weekend has been good to you so far. It's been sunny here in Maine and finally starting to feel like spring -- I love it!

So, it's the perfect weekend to show you my spring decorating. I didn't go crazy this year and I mostly used things I already had on hand. My focus this year was on natural elements and textures, with glossy white accents as contrast. Take a look!

This is the dining room, which is back to being a dining room after we flirted with it becoming a sitting room. On the table is a simple centerpiece in my Pottery Barn lantern that I got for a steal a couple years ago. Inside, you might recognize the jute twine eggs I made over Easter weekend, and my DIY rope-wrapped pot.

The plant inside is an Arabica plant that I picked up a couple weeks ago. I wasn't sure how it'd like being inside the lantern, but it seems to be growing and thriving! The lantern is sitting on a charger from Target.

The white vase and white bird are Michaels finds from a couple years ago. I love the glossy white with the textures of the jute and the greenery. And the colorful bamboo placemats are from Bed Bath and Beyond. They make me happy :)

I spent a few minutes last weekend poking around our backyard to find some sticks and branches, then let them dry out for a few days in the garage. They're quick, fast and cheap fillers for vases. I'd love to have fresh flowers all the time, but they're more a splurge for me than a regular purchase. To add some soft spring textures, I made a little flower out of tissue paper by simply cutting two layers of paper into an irregular circle, poking some floral wire through the middle, and gently folding the tissue paper into a petal shape. I secured with a little hot glue and a little green ribbon around the base.

Recognize this console table? It used to hang out in the living room until I decided to put the media cabinet in its place. I like it in the dining room. It holds our cookbooks and makes a great spot for drinks or appetizers when we're entertaining. But right now it's a great spot for more spring decor!

Let's start at the bottom with the runner -- a past DIY project using some fabric from the remnants bin at Joann. I'm a total sucker for that remnants bin. The bottles are simply old beer bottles wrapped in jute twine. Since there's no art on this wall (yet), I wanted to create some height with this display, so I used more branches and tissue paper flowers. These are some tissue paper pomanders I made (and never used!) for our wedding (I used Martha Stewart's directions, but you can find how-tos everywhere). And yes, I've kept them! I've felt kind of silly hanging onto a box full of tissue paper pomanders, but let me tell you, they've come in quite handy over the years. They just need a little fluffing to look good as new.

My new terrarium is hanging out here too -- I'm happy to report it's still alive! The bird is big brother to the little one on the table.

This bird print, bought  for me by my mom from HomeGoods, adds some fun color to the whole display. This used to hang in our living room but it was a little small for the wall so now I'm trying to find a different home for it. For now, I like it here, especially as it echoes the birds-and-branches thing I've got going on.

This white bowl from Target has the rest of my jute eggs and the yarn ones I made too.

 
And if you like me on Facebook, you'll recognize this glass bottle, my latest flea market find for just 10 bucks. I'm addicted to glass bottles. I particularly like this one with some curvy branches and tissue paper flowers. It looks so romantic!

A couple more photos, because I can't resist...

In short, I bought nothing new for this spring setting -- just the way I like it! :)

Have you decorated for spring yet?

Before I sign off, I just have to take a minute to say my heart goes out to everyone affected by the tragedy in Boston. As I said on my Facebook page, this one hits close to home for me -- Boston is really the heart of New England, and I have so many happy memories of time spent there, from going to the Science Museum on school field trips, to Red Sox games with my husband, to visiting good friends who live there. I'm happy all my friends were safe, but my heart breaks for those whose loved ones were not as lucky. And while they may have apprehended the people responsible, the ordeal is not over for those who have to continue healing and grieving.

I can't do much to help, but I can donate blood, and I did last week. My proximity to Boston means my donation might actually be transported there if they have a shortage and need it. I'm a big advocate of blood donation, so wherever you are, I urge you to consider taking the time to donate blood. One pint of donated blood can save up to three lives! It feels so good to know you're making that kind of impact.

A springtime terrarium centerpiece

A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me if I was interested in going to a class at a local greenhouse on how to make a terrarium. I didn't know a lot about terrariums, but I was intrigued, so I said yes!

The class included all the supplies we needed -- a glass container, rocks, charcoal, soil, moss and plants -- plus a handy-dandy handout on how to care for them. I seriously, totally kept all the little tags on my plants so I could tell you all what I planted in here...and I lost them.

So, I wish I could tell you what I've got growing in here, but I can't, except that I remember the low-growing green one is called baby tears. I remember that because it kind of bummed me out, but the plant was pretty so I used it.

The instructor said to keep the terrarium in medium light. It makes a lovely spring centerpiece on the dining room table.

Every few days I give it a mist with a mister. I'm really nervous about keeping it alive, since I'm got a pretty black thumb. So far, so good.

I'd love to find a tiny, adorable little animal figurine to put in here. I'm on the hunt for just the right addition.

Have you ever made a terrarium? Any tips for keeping it alive -- I think I'll need them!

Yarn and twine eggs for spring {DIY}

Hi all! I hope you had a great Easter. We had a low-key day because we've got a recuperating pup on our hands. Our poor little guy had surgery on his knee last week. He's been limping on and off for months and other treatments weren't working.

Finally the vet said surgery was the only way to keep him from completely tearing his ligament and losing the ability to use the leg at all. Now he's got a bionic leg with a metal plate and six screws! (If you're curious, the surgery he had is called a TPLO surgery.)

I do not like the cone of shame

He's got six weeks of being cooped up, and then another six weeks of getting his full mobility back. It's going to be a loooong April. But in the end he'll be able to run and play like a normal dog without any more limping or threat of tearing his knee ligament. I can't wait for that day!

Since he's still recovering from the surgery and is in pain and getting used to staying in the pen (and to the cone of shame), we decided to stay home this weekend and keep an eye on him.

So, I took the opportunity of a weekend at home to do some crafts. I have to admit, I hadn't done any Easter or spring crafts -- in Maine, it doesn't feel much like spring in March, and in fact we still have some snow piles that need to melt. So I wasn't really feeling inspired.

But then I found in my craft stash some plastic eggs I bought last year from Target and never did anything with.

I whipped out the hot glue gun, some jute twine and some yarn and got to work. I simply started at the top and worked my way down, gluing as needed.

I did the twine eggs first, and then decided to try yarn. I kind of wish I had done them all in yarn -- I love the pops of color! I'm feeling the need for color these days.

I would say the yarn was harder to use than the jute. The jute was more forgiving if I didn't quite line things up or got a little too much glue under there. The yarn was pretty thin, so there are a couple itty bitty gaps where the egg color peeks through, especially on the bottom. But I'm not going to stare that closely at them.

Greens, blues and neutrals are like my favorite combo.

And while Easter is now over, I think these eggs make great spring decor and can last through April and May.

I've got some other spring touches in the works, so stay tuned!

A little taste of spring

Howdy! First off, thanks to all your kind comments on our entryway makeover! You're too sweet! We're definitely happy to have that space working better for us.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a busy one: threw a bridal shower for a friend, went to the drive-in restaurant and had some yummy lobster rolls and frappes* with the hubs, did some much-needed cleaning and got to spend a little time outside as the mercury topped 60 degrees -- finally! 

*Don't know what a frappe is? Click here and read the first bullet. And then drool.

Our Sunday gave us a little of this...

and this...

and this.

Confession: I usually drink my margarita out of a pint glass. I don't mess around!

We brought our patio furniture out from exile and back onto the deck -- even though we had to shovel a couple remaining piles of snow to make room for it. And there's still some left in the yard where the sun don't shine.

Oy

I also poked around the garden and was excited to see some things sprouting. Since it's our first spring here, we have no idea what the warm weather will bring in the gardens the previous owner planted. Let's hope I can actually keep them alive!

Daffodils...

??

I can't wait to really get my hands dirty as soon as the weather cooperates. As of last week, it was still getting below freezing here at night, although it should be warmer this week. I hope my little daffodils are tougher than they look!

How was your weekend? Do anything to welcome warmer temps?

Decorating for spring

Hey all! Hope you had a good weekend. Even though the calendar says it's spring, it was like 30 degrees here all weekend. (At least it was sunny!). Where is this spring they speak of?

It might not feel like spring outside, but at least it looks like spring inside. Maybe this will encourage some warmer weather around here. I can dream, right?

Here's our dining room looking all springy. I made some paper dogwood blossoms using Martha's directions, except I made mine using 3-, 2.5- and 2-inch squares. I just used regular ol' printer paper, and made some leaves out of green cardstock. Then I hotglued them to a branch I found in the yard.

Here's a close-up of the flower (please excuse the reject decorations in the corner). They're like the easier paper flowers to make in the world.

I put the branch in a big mason jar and held it in place with river rocks and wine corks.

In front of the jar is a $1 silver tray from Target, with some jute and two white pillar candles nestled in. So cheap and easy! I added two bud vases I already had, which really brought out the green in the leaves and added a little symmetry.

Note: I'm not dumb enough to leave these candles lit! All that jute is surely a fire hazard. But they look purdy all lit for the picture.

I made another dogwood blossom branch for the living room, this time with pink flowers. I love how the branch's curvyness complements the shape of the vase.

For more spring color, I filled a few votive holders with green, blue and white sea glass.

I also did a little rearranging with stuff I already had on there, like this adorable flower-shaped bowl from Goodwill. I love the color and the petal shapes.

Above the console table, I put a little spring on the floating shelves. Another branch from outside got prettied up with two paper flowers (also from Martha) I made for our wedding. And everyone teased me for keeping them -- ha! They really do come in handy (like for this paper topiary I made for Valentine's Day). And isn't that turquoise vase to die for?

I printed off this cute Be Happy print from blog Sprik Space and mounted it on some cheerful scrapbook paper. Note: I got a virus after downloading this print, so please, download at your own risk. But I think it's so cute, it's worth it. The hubs might disagree. 

I like how the color complements the vase. Behind that, the weathered frame I bought at a flea market.

On the shelf below, I moved a photo I took a few years ago on a camping trip from the gallery wall in the kitchen, and added a simple white candle and a cutie little bird that usually lives in the upstairs bathroom.

All together now:

I'm already thinking that frame would look fab with a cute little DIY wreath hanging from the center.

And here's it all with the table:

And it isn't spring without gerbera daisies. Nothing makes me happier than these happy, bright flowers. I bought a bunch at the grocery store and used them with some recent Michaels finds to bring some spring to the room next to the kitchen. A branch adds some height and interest.

Gah, look at that sweet little guy! (I love birds.)

I put the rest of the flowers in a mason jar with some seashells in the bottom. They add some happiness to the phone table in the living room.

How can you feel glum while looking at these cheerful fellows? They will surely help us beat the winter, er, early spring blues. Now if only the rest of the snow would melt...

I'm linking up to Centsational Girl's Fair Weather Forum: Spring Decorating and Cleaning. Stop by and see all the warm weather decor! 

Speaking of cleaning, this is what the rest of the living room looked like while I was decorating and taking photos:

The hubs got inspired to go through all his books and get rid of not enough some. I'm sure they'll be lots more spring cleaning and organizing in our future.

Have you decorated for spring yet? 

I'm also linking to the DIY Showoff Project Parade!