Spring Mantel 2012

Bonjour my dear friends!

C’est le printemps a Paris!

Okay, I know you know its just my family room and not Paris, but a girl can dream can’t she? At least it is spring, I think.

At first, I was not even sure if I was going to do a “spring mantel” this year, I was happy with keeping things as they were for a bit…

But then one day I walked past my daughter’s room and saw this..

These are cherry blossoms that she made at a friend’s house.

Simply crumbled crepe paper in shades of pink glued to a branch. So simple and pretty.

I asked if she minded if I borrowed them, which she didn’t ‘cause she is sweet like that!

I placed them in with the pussy willows that were already there and there they sat for about a week.

At some point, my mind wandered to Paris.

One of my favorite places that I have had the amazing opportunity to go.

But even more than that, I wanted it to be light, bright, fun, maybe a little less serious - dare I say a little bit "kitchy"?

And as far as that goes, maybe the whole family room could be a little lighter and brighter.

So, I pulled out a mix of vintage pillows that were either in closets or other rooms.

Pulled in some of my favorite and bright books…

My original plan was to include my painting, but when I put it up there, it just didn’t work.

Actually, this mantel had many different versions that just didn’t work.

In the end, I wanted to do something different, light and brighter (and Pink?!), but still me.

This post card is vintage and my sweet hubby got it for me at a Paris flea market.

Do you remember a few years ago when the volcanoes blew and air traffic to and from Europe was halted?

Well, my hubby was there waiting for me, and after sitting in the airport for many hours, I did not make it to our long time planned weekend away.

So, he spent the weekend alone in Paris writing his business strategy plan – good times!

He knew how much I wanted to go to the flea markets, so he did sneak out to one and this is one of the things he picked up for me.

Yup, I’m keeping him!

(in case you are wondering, several months later, he was again in Europe, I was again able to find coverage for my kids, I again used up those frequent flyer miles he racks up so quickly and spent three days in Paris with my hubby and we went to several flea markets!)

The ceramic flower "thing" is something no one bid on at auction so I got it for a few dollars figuring someday it would be useful – today was that day.

I felt I needed to do pull in the Eiffel Tower, which is kind of not like me – I don’t usually like to be so literal.

But, like I said, I actually wanted a little bit of a “kitchy” feel.

I have been wanting to try some embroidery, so why wouldn’t I start with a big huge Eiffel Tower without a pattern or skills?

I will be sharing soon how I pulled this together.

If you are a “real embroider”, please do not read anything about it as you will be horrified and offended!

I originally was planning to use these vintage hankies tied together as a garland.

But, you guessed, that just didn’t work either.

So, I made them into “flowers” and pinned them to this wreath and hung it with some vintage ribbon on the mirror.

More details to come on this as well!

I wasn’t sure how my husband would feel about it being quite so “girly”, he usually lets me do my thing, but I try to be respectful to his tastes as well.

He sat on the couch tonight and said out loud, “We are so lucky to have such a great house”

Now, that could be because of my “Paris in the Springtime” inspired mantel, or…

it could be because I finally cleaned up after the chaos that is always my process!

Either way, I wish you all a happy spring!

I am skeptical of this weather, hard to believe it is going to last, but I am grateful for it while it does!

I will be linking up at Layla's!