Button Easter Egg

Has spring/Easter fever hit you yet?  I finally caught the bug this past weekend. The mantel and sideboard still had remnants of faux snow balls and pinecones and Valentine's day items hanging around so it was time to change things up. 
I decided I needed to whip up something new for Easter this year - I guess you could say that crafting fever hit at the same time as spring fever.  I checked out Pinterest for inspiration and after considering many different projects I finally settled on making this button Easter egg (made by Kyla from Funky Polkadot Giraffe and posted on Craftaholics Anonymous in a guest post).

The funny thing was that upon closer inspection of the inspiration button egg, I realized that it was a printable Easter egg and no real buttons were involved in making it.  I must confess that real buttons were harmed in the making of my Easter egg - yes sir, I glued their little plastic backsides to the wall (well cardboard anyway).   
I bet you have a little collection of buttons like I do - you know those extra ones that come attached to shirts and jackets in case you need a replacement.  Well over the years my little box has become well stocked.  I rarely use the spare buttons so I thought they might like to come out and play.  You can tell I've had some of the buttons for years because if you look closely one of the buttons I used is an Oshkosh button.  I don't know what kids wear these days, but I remember the cutest overalls made by Oshkosh when our kiddos were young. (wistful sigh)

To make the egg I drew a template and then arranged the buttons on it so I could play with the layout before committing. When I was happy with the arrangement I drew a faint outline of the egg onto the blue cardboard and then spread tacky glue onto the area and transferred the buttons over.  Tacky glue dries quickly, but leaves enough time for a bit of sliding around to make everything fit. I put a few books on top while it dried to help prevent the cardboard from warping.

I chose the rich blue cardboard because I wanted to highlight the gorgeous royal blue door in a photograph that my friend Kat gave to me.  The photo was taken in Strasbourg France and is one of those ancient doors that you only seem to find in Europe.  I fell in love with the rich royal blue colour and decided to decorate the entire mantel around it.  
By the way I must tell you about Kat - if you don't already know her that is. She's an incredibly talented photographer and has recently opened a shop to sell her pictures.  She takes beautiful nature shots, including many bird photos and landscape photos, as well as pictures from her travels like her recent trips to France and Germany.  You can see more of her works (and order your own gorgeous blue French door photograph) at her website Low Tide High Style.  I would encourage you to pop on over and have a look - you won't be disappointed.

You can see in the picture below how the photos are framed. They come to you from Kat's shop already stretched around a frame so you can hang them up as they are or just stand them on a mantel or dresser leaning against the wall.  

As I was changing things up on the mantel I realized I needed some dyed eggs in rich blue colours to tie the whole springtastic display together.  So I did what any sensible person would do - I hard-boiled a few eggs and dyed them several different shades of blue (along with dying my fingers blue)

  

I brought in a few other blue items to help carry the colour across the mantel. 

And I added some rustic/natural elements like the wooden candlestick (seen above), my son's mead bottle, the little clay bowl that I was given in Bangladesh, and some forsythia twigs that I am forcing (in the photo below).

And there you have it - a true blue Easter mantel!

I'm joining up with the Pinterest Challenge that is happening at the following blogs:

• Young House Love
• Bower Power
• Decor and the Dog
• The Remodeled Life

I'm guessing there will be a whole lot of pinning, a whole lot of inspiration, and a whole lot of fun at these blogs starting on Wednesday, February 27th.  

Also linked to Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House,
Budget Decorating Party at Creative Cain Cabin,
Tutorials and Tips Link Party at Home Stories A to Z,
Totally Tuesday at Madcap Frenzy,
WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style,
Spring Mantel: Countdown to Spring Party at Domestically Speaking