Decorating A Spring Inspired Mantel and A New Nikon CoolPix P520

posted in: Cottage Decorating, Cottage Gardening | 3

Hi All,
Although you could not tell by walking outside today here in NC, Spring is right around the corner! I have been decorating my Spring Inspired Mantel for the past couple of days and today I want to share it with you, my lovely readers.
Spring Shabby Chic Mantel

I decorated my Spring Inspired Mantel with a combination of vintage items, mercury glass (of course), bird inspired accents and a touch of pink.

Spring Mantle

I have a lot of bird inspired decor in my living room and I just had to incorporate that theme into my Spring Inspired Mantel. I also added a vintage feel to the mantel with some vintage books and an old fashioned alarm clock.

Spring Mantel By Lisas Creative Designs

I have a thing for vintage books and old book pages. I just love old typography and ephemera. The realistic pink roses came from Michael’s Craft Store. The pink adds a feminine touch and a much needed pop of color to the mantel.

Spring Mantel

Thank goodness my husband is a good sport about all the pink that has been showing up in the house lately. As long as he has his big screen TV, his salt water fish tank and his guitar collection he is happy. He tolerates all my “stuff”.

Spring Mantel

Sitting on top of a few more old books is a bell shaped ginger jar that I filled with a bird’s nest I created from Spanish moss, a few twigs and  some faux bird eggs.Decorating A Spring Mantel

I created a couple of vignettes at the base of the fireplace. An old decorative birdcage filled with pine cones, a “pink” candlestick, ceramic bird and potted pink hydrangeas complete one side.

Spring Vignette

An aqua blue chicken wire lantern, a glittered vintage style bunny, bird candle and more potted hydrangeas complete the other side.

Spring Vignette

If you noticed the chair beside the fireplace in the first picture you may have spotted the pretty Victorian inspired pillow on it. I LOVE this pillow. I bought it on sale at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago. It is just gorgeous and ties in with my Spring Inspired Mantel beautifully!

Spring Victorian Pillow from Hobby Lobby

And there you have it folks, my fireplace mantel all dressed for Spring.

Spring mantel

An Unexpected Gift:

I have been wanting a new camera for the past couple of months. I have had a basic Samsung digital camera for the past couple of years and it has been a decent little camera but it has seen better days. It has hit the floor a couple of times and I had to put masking tape on it to keep the battery and SD card from falling out. CLASSY! Boy that’s not embarrassing pulling that out in front of a client! I have also been frustrated with the quality of the photos lately too and have had to do a lot of editing to each photo.

After doing quite a bit of research and taking a trip to my local Best Buy store, I decided I wanted to buy a Nikon CoolPix P520 Camera.

Nikon CoolPix P520 Camera

I was thinking about buying a refurbished one off the internet and then last week my husband came home from work with a gift for me. He bought me the camera I wanted! Woohoo! I was so excited! I did some playing around with both cameras and took some comparable photos. Take a look at the following old vs. new camera shots ….

Old Camera Vs New Camera

Old Camera Vs. New Camera Nikon P520

As you can see the photos to the right that were taken with the new Nikon are much clearer and brighter. The Nikon CoolPix is a more expensive camera and it shows. The little Samsung I had was a nice little camera that served it’s purpose for me for years but it was time to upgrade. I love my new camera! The Nikon Coolpix P520 is very easy to use for a novice like me, it takes great pictures and I love the fact that it does not take a bunch of batteries. Been there, done that. You just plug it into the wall to charge it up!

Well, that’s all for today. Have you started decorating for Spring yet?

~Lisa

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Linking Today To:

Domestically Speaking, Frugal Friday, The DIY Showoff,

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3 Responses

  1. lynn cockrell

    Love your beautiful spring mantel! What a wonderful surprise–getting a new camera! I really need a new one, too!

  2. The Smallest Acre

    Beautiful job on your mantel. Lots of great ideas. I’m going to search for or make a pillow similar to yours. Congrats on the new camera!

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