Spring Mantle for under $10.00!

SPRING, please say it's so!

The calendar says it's Spring but the view from my window says, "sweetheart you're in Canada...think again".

Well Spring HAS Sprung in our living room and I was bound and determined I would decorate our Spring Mantle for under $10.00!

The first thing I did was shop the home for anything with a Spring/Easter vibe.  Then I headed to the dollar store with my $10.00 bill in hand.  So now what?

I started with the items I already had on hand like colored cardstock, scrapbook paper, alphabet stickers, twine, and some cute mini clothespins to create a simple banner.

The Easy Peasy How To

1. Using a ruler, I drew the first flag banner onto cardstock and cut it with a paper cutter.  This became the template for the rest of the flags.  Mine are 5" x 8"
2. I went through my scrapbook paper to find images perfect for Spring.
3. I cut the scrapbook sheets to 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" and glued them to the front of the cardstock.
4. I attached 1-inch self-adhesive letters to the front of each flag.  They came in a booklet that I found at my local Dollarama store.  
5. The booklet also contained some cute stickers that I also used to embellish the flags.

I had the cutest crochet bottle caps in my stash (got them at Michaels) to embellish the letter S flag (see below).

The Alphabet Booklet also contained some cute stickers that I embellished the letter R flag with by adding the word WISH.

...and ENJOY on the letter N flag.

Nothing says spring like a gazebo, right?  Several weeks ago Mr. Frugalista came home with a miniature wooden gazebo that he found while thrifting on his lunch break.  I gave it a good cleaning and a dry brush of white chalk paint.

I found some raffia ribbon in my crafting stash and made a nest and filled it with Marbled Easter Eggs that the kids and I decorated around 15 years ago!

Also many years ago in a craft class, I made this tissue paper decoupaged bunny.  Wanting a more "grown up" look I decided to give it another decoupaged makeover using French newsprint scrapbook paper torn into strips.  I rubbed dark wax over the Modge Podge once it was dry to give the paper an aged appearance and then painted the egg with...wait for it
...Duck Egg Blue chalk paint!

I had two of these wooden bird houses, one I gave to my Mom for her birthday and this one I kept for myself.  I painted it with Simplicity White, Luscious Lime and Antique Red.

I pulled a wooden candlestick from the trio in the master bedroom and thought it would make a perfect base for the birdhouse.

Which brings me to my cute little bird cage.  You'll see it creatively incorporated into all my seasonal vignettes.  I placed the remaining marbled Easter eggs into the nest and added a few feathers I had in my craft bin.

In the master bedroom, I had a set of faux Heather tea cups.  I grabbed one of them to add to the display.  Using some real Heather in a teacup & saucer would have been very pretty but remember I was decorating on a $10.00 budget!

One of my dollar store purchases was this cute wooden letter block.  I gave it a quick coat of paint using Duck Egg Blue, Antoinette, and Perfection.

Last but not least is what consumed most of my budget.  I had the vase on hand as well as the moss but I thought these branches with mini eggs and nests were just too adorable.

For a grand total of $9.00 and some change, there you have it...a Spring Mantel for under $10.00!

UPDATE:

To add some dimension to the Spring Banner, I aged each flag by pouncing brown paint around the edges of the flags.  To do this I used a round stencil brush and dipped the ends of the bristles into the paint and dabbed the excess with a paper towel.  In a circular motion, I lightly added the brown where the paper would naturally age over time (see picture below).