Mantel of the Month: April Edition

Well, over here in PA we have DEFINITELY put our time in with the April Showers! As much as we have loved our soft and elegant St. Patty’s day get-up, it’s time to transition to Easter and all things spring… so, I give you:

Let me tell you- you’ll be dreaming in technicolor after this post! The inspiration for this display came from the ever-popular Easter Egg dying. While I’m really looking forward to dying a few of our own eggs this year, I figured I would bring the look into this month’s mantel design too. The goal was to infuse lots of color, while balancing it with bunches and bunches of less “in your face” white florals. Let’s do this.

Well, first a shot of what we’re building:

Alrighty, Step #1: Find your base. I started out thinking that I could reuse the green spotted sheet from last month’s display. However, after all was said and done, it just looked like too much with all of the color from the jars.

In the end, I went with a simple white table cloth, folded in half (length-wise) and then half again to get the “runner” look:

Step #2: Grow a couple inches. To give the look some height variation, I gathered up some props that would give me some elevation. Nothing too fancy- a small candle holder and a stack of coasters and the dish they came in.

Step #3: Camouflage! I covered my “stands” with two linen napkins we already had to make it look more like a decorated display and from there, they were ready to hold the real stars of the show!

Step #4: Go Modge Podge and Tissue Paper crazy. I won’t go too much into detail with this step (although it is the most important part!) because I stole this part of the process from a past project. Remember those DIY Lenten Jars? Well, it turns out they make pretty cool vases too! Don’t worry- I found a new home for my “challenges of the day” and repurposed the decorated jar for this project. Oh, and made five more in other colors, too. 🙂 For instructions on how to make the jars, click the “DIY Lenten Jar” link above.

Step #5: Flower Time! For this project, I wanted to stick with all whites to counter balance the color craze happening in the jars. I bought two bunches of white hydrangeas and two bunches of baby’s breath. At $2.50 a pop (thank you, Produce Junction!), I was thrilled with the selection! That gave me six stalks of hydrangeas- one for each jar. Bonus points because I even had some baby’s breath leftover- this was an exciting day in the Thomas household…

If you use smallish mason jars like I did, you’re going to have to cut a good bit of stem off each bloom to get them to sit right in the jars.

I started with one hydrangea per jar…

Add a sprig or two of baby’s breath…

And simple as that, you have beautiful spring arrangements!

Step #6: Arrange, arrange, arrange. Mix your colors and switch up your jars however you see fit- not much else to it!

And there you have it- easy as pie! Now, step back and enjoy. 🙂

So fresh and springy! What are you doing to “springify” your house/dorm/apartment? Send me some pics and you could be featured… Also, for those of you joining me in the Mantel of the Month, send the photo finish- we want to see that mantel art!

Until next time, have a great weekend and Happy SPRING!

-Leslie

PS. See any pictures you like? Do me a quick favor and Pin away! Share the love and Pin them to your boards, share them on FB, whatever your thing is… and as always, thank you for reading!