Rustic Spring Mantel

I FINALLY got around to decorating my mantel for SPRING! I know I'm a little late to the game, but what's done is now done! Everything I used to decorate the mantel I already had around the house, so I spent absolutely no money, which you know pleases me greatly.

It took me a while to figure out what I really wanted for the mantel. I'm glad I took that extra time though, because I LOVE the way it turned out.

I wanted the spring colors and flowers to be a part of the mantel, but I didn't wanted them to be the focal point. I'm really not a "flowery" type of girl. Love them, but too much steals the show. I decided to choose a color to add pop to the mantel.

Since I've been a little obsessed with turquoise lately, I chose that color for the mantel. I tinted clear glass vases from the Dollar Tree to give me that turquoise loveliness. You can read about that project HERE

I bought this rustic wreath last year at a thrift store. It's the wreath I always use for this mantel and has gone through a lot of changes. Oh, if wreaths could speak! The flowers also came from a thrift store, and I used those for my outdoor wreath last year. You can take a look at how I used the flowers on that wreath HERE.

This year, I decided to bunch the flowers up on one side. The burlap was left over too, and I'm in love with how burlap and wood compliment each other. I couldn't resist using it to hang my wreath.

At first, I added real flowers left over from Easter, in my tinted vases. The pink and white flowers are made out of coffee filters then spray painted. I made those last year too and you can read the tutorial HERE.

Like I said, I love flowers, but with flowers on the wreath, the coffee filter flowers, the real flowers in the vase, and the flower tea cup, I was in flower overload. I think the boys were too.

I knew the real flowers were temporary though, so I left things as they were for a few days. The teacup, by the way, is my favorite. I'm an afternoon tea drinker and I have several beautiful tea cups in my collection. Ironically, I never drink my tea out of them??? I use a big Starbucks mug. I know- the irony.

That was the mantel....colorful, flowery, done!

Now that the flowers have met their day, I added branches to the vases. I read some where that branches are the new flowers. I think that's an appropriate statement. Branches set a rustic tone, but when you put them in a nice vase, you have rustic glam. That's what I'm calling it anyway.