My Spring Mantle and Spring Cleaning Commitment for the Week

Good Morning Friends!

Its time for me to leave my weekly commitment for the Spring Cleaning Challenge! (I hope you will too!) But first, let me share with you some spring-y photographs from my neck of the woods...




A little daffodil pushes its way through the earth...




Tiny leaves emerge on my lilac tree...




Our cactus and succulent (and orchid) collection glowing green in the morning light...


And presenting... MY SPRING MANTLE!!





Actually, I took this picture about a week ago when it was still in progress and it has already changed a little, but here are some photos...I wanted to be sure to share them before spring gets
away! It looks so lovely in the evening all lit up!




An apothacary jar with a tiny nest inside...for Easter, I filled this jar with pastel shabby-chic Easter eggs that I painted and antiqued. It was precious! Do ignore the strange people in the picture frame. I don't know them. They came with the frame, which I plan to fill with wedding photos...






These are my white ceramic bunny rabbits. I searched the town and etsy high and low to find bunnies that were just plain white. (This proved to be harder than expected) Then I found them on the bottom shelf in the corner of a store. I was so excited! They are the perfect symbol of spring, and they are so cute I can hardly stand it :) I'm sure I will cherish them for years to come.

I painted a double-decker bird house for the mantle. In this pic I had not yet distressed and antiqued it, but you can get the idea.





Spring-green and lavender candles light up the mantle...

My sweet ceramic birds from Ventura, CA :)

My real birds nests collection, one I found and one Audrey found for me, along with other bird fancies, including the art print in the back (I am looking for the right frame for this), called "Nesting Material" made by an Etsy artist Anna Ruby King in Athens, Greece. If you love it, you can get one too here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62799572/nesting-material-limited-edition-hand?ref=sr_list_1&ga_search_query=nesting+material+print+&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Some of my favorite things :)

And now...

My personal Spring Cleaning Commitment for the week:

This week I will clean out and organize my "junk drawer" Right now its hard to open and close because things are always getting caught. Its a mess. I hearby commit to making it functional this week!

What is your commitment for this week?! (Leave a comment!)

Love,

Abbey

Winter Magic: My Christmas Mantle

If you've been reading, you know by now that decorating my mantle with the coming of each season is something I absolutely LOVE to do, and I daydreamed and really looked forward to bringing life to the mantle for Christmas.

I think one reason decorating the mantle is so special to me, is that this is Preston and my very first house together. We've lived both in our parents houses and in an apartment, but this year, we share the sweetest little cottage. And decorating our very first house for Christmas??? Even more joy. So putting mantle and Christmas together in the same sentence, you have one very very happy me.

Another reason I love decorating the mantle, is that to me, it is like a special altar in our home (and the only place our cat Spoofer cannot get to) and I love having a special altar to the seasons. It is a warm, wonderful ritual to decorate it. This precious earth is so special to me, and it is one way in which I can honor the cycles of the earth, and honor each season and the way it touches my own human cycles, and honor the changes that take place in and all around me with each new season.

I put a lot of love into this mantle design and really dreamed it up over a couple months time, looking high and low in shops and online for the perfect elements to compliment it. So sharing it with you has been a much anticipated thing. Of course I only wish you could see it in person, and see how it sparkles in the low light of the evening, because its even better than the pictures can express. But here they are, my very special Christmas Mantle...

Ta-dahhhh! Ok...now let me show you some close-ups...

A sweet sparkly winter bird (yes, I definitely have a bird obsession)

A little snowflake candle...

Little trimmed trees on each end...

Silver branch garland that I bought to decorate for my holiday trunk show, but ended up getting some more when I realized it was the missing element in my Christmas mantle...

The beginning of a winter vignette I've started to the side of the fireplace...I've already changed it a little since this photo...

A precious tiny decoration my sister Annie got for me when she was living in France...

Spoofer wishing she could knock everything down... ok...maybe she's just daydreaming, waiting for spring to arrive so she can eat grass in the yard...

The star atop our little tree...

And put it all together.....

Christmas Magic!

I wish for you a holiday season filled with warmth, love, and all the things that make you happy! Thank you for reading my blog and allowing me to share with you the joys of my life.

Love,

Abbey