Easter Mantel + Link Party

By Kate Riley April 10, 2011

Hello hello, hope you all had a lovely weekend!  I realized on Friday I had advertised an Easter link party come Monday morning, then scratched my head wondering what I could pull out of my little bag of tricks.  I admit, I wasn’t feeling very inspired, especially since we’re not hosting Easter dinner or an elegant brunch like we did last year.

What to do, what to do?  Drumming fingers, thinking thinking…  Hey, how about a  switcheroo on the mantel, that’s always easy and fun, cause it’s only been a month since I last changed it!   Yeah, the mantel.  Some fresh flowers and a few flea market finds from the past, and a new (albeit simple) mantelscape is on display.

cg easter tulips mantel

I found the candlesticks below at a thrift store last year. I speculate they were donated because their stripes are not perfectly symmetrical, but that’s why I like them so much.  They have a very ‘Liberty of London’ feel, and were an easy buy at $5 dollars for the pair.

The candlesticks inspired the pastels ~ not my favorite colors to decorate with, but acceptable for the Easter season.   A simple glass jar filled with tempting chocolate morsels plays off the colorful botanical design.

cg candlesticks

I also made this butterfly bunting out of a fabric remnant and a vintage handkerchief I found at an antique store.

cg handkerchief bunting

cg tulips butterfly bunting

Four Steps to Make Handkerchief Bunting:

1) Assemble ribbon, handkerchief, ½ yard of fabric, scissors, and fusible web.  2) Cut handkerchief into four quarters and complementary fabric in the same size squares  3) Create handkerchief and fabric triangles with fusible web, seal edges together.  4) Attach ribbon with fusible web or sewing machine.

bunting steps

The bunting, although whimsical, was a little too girlish for my taste, especially with the mantel decorated in pastels.  My daughter happily whisked it off to her bedroom where it is now strung across her window.

Those boy and girl busts were a lucky find at a flea market last year, they remind me of my two smallest children.  I believe the most important thing when decorating your home is to surround yourself with the things you love, or put objects on display that remind you of who is special in your life.

cg easter mantel

Finally, I bent over backwards to craft these extremely complicated Easter eggs, Jackson Pollock style.  Only the brainiest dare attempt!   Step one: paint eggs.  Step two: fling another color of paint across eggs.  Wipe brow in sheer exhaustion at the complexity of this craft, then display in shredded tissue paper and call it a day.

cg paint splattered easter eggs

  .

What about you?  What Easter inspiration do you have to share today?

Link up any of your Easter ideas, past or present, through this Thursday (April 14th).

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56 comments

  1. I *love* your bunting. You Americans are wayyyy better at flaggy type things than we Canadians. I didn’t even know it was called a bunting. I’ve always called it a drapey, flag-type, swaggy thing. It’s a mouthful. ~ karen

  2. That is a pretty spring mantle. The bunting is really sweet. Thanks for hosting this great party this is my first time joining you. I look forward to seeing all of the great ideas.

  3. Wow! You have lots of fun, fun materials to play with! The pastels are pretty with the white mirror. I esp. love the vase color. I needs more vases. Nice vases. I have crappy vases, but beautiful flowers from my gardens all the time. I need more vases!! I’m going shopping!

  4. I so love your spring mantle! You have an amazing blog! Thank you for the inspiration!!!
    -emily
    nestnestingnested.blogspot

  5. Love your mantel! Just wanted to let you know that I have been a follower for awhile and have finally just started my own blog and you are the first party I have linked up too! And I also put on my page that I linked up to your party so hopefully I am following proper etiquette:) Thanks for helping to inspire me to get this up and going! B

  6. The mantel looks great! I’m feeling inspired to get started on a pretty Easter vignette! I especially love the painted eggs, so cute :)

  7. Thanks for hosting the party. I love the bunting that you crafted and your painted eggs. The bunting will look pretty all summer.

  8. Thank you for hosting, Kate! :) I love your Pollock-style eggs. You’re right–flinging paint is serious business. Only for the bravest of crafters. I’ll be back to check out some links later today…I have to get the taxes to the tax guy today. I am the worst “book keeper” ever! :s

  9. Love the mantel, love the eggs, love the reflection of the paint-stick sunburst mirror (on my absolutely must try list)! Thanks for hosting the link party — looking forward to lots of Easter inspiration.

  10. Excellent ideas. I’ve been trying to figure out a few more spring/Easter touches for my home, since I AM hosting Easter lunch. I have two fireplaces to transform. Thank you!

  11. Hey Jeanette, if there were pictures of me making those eggs, you’d see my paint splattered sweat pants, bed head and no makeup. Sexy! No seriously, all I did was paint them that soft yellow, let it dry, water down some silver paint with a drop or two of water, dip my artist’s paintbrush, then fling it across the eggs with a flick of the wrist. It’s best to try out the technique on a piece of newspaper before you ‘paint’ the eggs.

    Olivia, the mirror was a floor sample found at Lamps Plus that I painted white and turned on its side, but you can still find it on their website here:

    http://www.lampsplus.com/products/casbah-weathered-bronze-45-inch-high-wall-mirror__49600.html

  12. Great Spring inspired mantel!! I love the pink & white, the bunting and the eggs on the silver tray!! Very elegant!!

  13. I love your mantel! It’s beautiful. I also love that you showed us something that “didn’t work for you” and that you changed your mind about it.
    (Glad that it ended up in your daughter’s room.)

  14. What a great idea with the handkerchief bunting! I see cute vintage hankies all the time in thrift stores and flea markets, and now I will be seeing them with new eyes :). Even if it ended up being a little too much for your mantel, I’m glad for the idea!

  15. Your mantel looks beautiful. I have some vintage hand kerchiefs I haven’t done anything with yet. Maybe I need to make a bunting.

  16. Such a pretty mantel! I linked what I did for our mantel after the winter holidays. It’s not technically Easter-y, and I changed out the picture in the middle to the print on the left in this post, but it’s the best I can do this year.

  17. Hi Kate,

    I just wanted to take a second to thank you for all that you share and for allowing us all a space to do the same! It is so lovely to be inspired by the many DIY-ers out there, so thanks for giving us a place to connect :o)

  18. I love how the eggs turned out and I think that is a craft even I could pull off! The mantel looks pretty. Sometimes simple is best!

  19. The bunting is just fantastic. I have a rather large collection of pretty hankies and this is a pretty solution.

    I have the same two busts and they represent my kiddos too. Great minds…

    Hope you’ll join my linky party on Friday.

  20. Kate, Thank you so much for hosting this beautiful party and for always inpsiring us with your talent. xo
    Lucy

  21. I loved your mantle and it looks like the linky party is having a grand turnout! I had no idea the flags could be called a bunting, however I loved it! So dainty! Wanda

  22. Oh – your mantle looks delightful! I hope our next house has one. Thanks for the Easter link up party – so many great ideas. I’m not prepared with a project this week – but now I have lots of ideas for next time! ;)

  23. Hi Kate. Thanks for hosting the party. I love your eggs! Beautiful. I also like that your mantel really has an Easter feel to it but it isn’t over the top. Perfectly subtle. :)

  24. Kate, I love your mantel…totally puts me in the Easter spirit! The hanky bunting is adorable! I know your little ones are loving your Easter decorating. :)

  25. Your mantle is very pretty, Kate. Love the pink tulips of course, your egss are fun and the bunting is very delicate and sweet. I think your mantle has the perfect Easter touch. I think each time I walked by I’d be taking a chocolate egg or two or three out of the jar.

  26. I’m so sorry, I uploaded the wrong thing….not Easter related. Post #216. Can you delete it, I can’t seem to find a way to. SORRY

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