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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham
Showing posts with label nest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nest. Show all posts

Five Ways to Use Birds, Eggs, & Nests in Spring

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Each Spring new bird's nests appear in the trees
 in the woods surrounding my house in the country... 
described as "living in the sticks" by a friend just last week, 
lovingly said with a smile, and true. 

Spring is just a few weeks away, and 
now is a good time to create easy-to-make projects 
for little touches of Spring all over the house. 

The woods outside inspire me to use birds, eggs, and bird's nests
to bring a little bit of nature and a few sticks inside five ways. 

1.  Chippy ladder used as wall shelves with 

a twiggy nest and egg print 



Using a rustic ladder is a great way to bring a little country Springtime and nature 
into a laundry room, mud room, half bath, or hallway where space is tight. 
Love, love, love those twigs (sticks) in the rustic man-made nest. 
The broken egg shell was an accident that turned into a realistic touch  
as though the shell had been left by a new baby bird. 
It is easy to make an egg print on burlap using free prints from The Graphics Fairy  
and instructions at Burlap Canvas Egg Prints


2.  Botanical bird's nest in table settings 



Another fast and easy project to make is botanical bird's nests for Spring table settings. 
Just embellish store-bought small grapevine wreaths with dried flowers, moss, 
lichen, and natural excelsior for a natural look that is enhanced by rustic clay pots. 
As one of my all-time favorite ways to display the beautiful blue clay eggs, 
I move the little nests all around the house all during the year. 


3.  Vintage bird prints on dictionary pages on the mantel 



Making bird prints on vintage dictionary pages is another quick and easy project, 
once again thanks to The Graphics Fairy that offers hundreds of free bird images.

Prints are not just beautiful on walls, they can also be used 
in bookcases, in table settings, and on mantels. 

Robins are a symbol for Spring for many people, 
especially in the northern United States. 
For northerners, the sighting of the first robin 
often marks the official beginning of Spring for them, 
regardless of the date on the calendar. 
It may be March 18 or April 3 or March 21, 
but it is not Spring until the first robin appears. 


4.  Bowl of eggs on the kitchen counter for Easter 



Purple is the color of Easter for me, but BLUE SPECKLED EGGS in bowls 
on the counter remind me of Easter egg hunts from childhood. 
This is one of the absolute easiest ways to bring 
bird's eggs in Spring into the kitchen.  
No project, just add some shredded paper grass to a bowl 
on which to nestle the eggs, and you are finished.  


5.  A cluster of blue eggs in a clear vase 



Could there be anything easier or more beautiful than displaying a cluster of blue eggs 
in a clear flower vase tied with a blue Paris-stamped handmade ribbon? 
Equally beautiful as part of a table centerpiece or by themselves on a side table, 
the eggs in a vase may be the simplest way of all to use eggs in Spring. 



Do you have a favorite way to decorate with birds, eggs, or nests? 

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Please join me at these inspiring sites...

SUNDAY
Dishing It and Digging It @ Rustic and Refined

MONDAY

TUESDAY

Nest Feathering

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Everyone feathers her nest to   
make her home meet her needs and dreams.

Gathering materials, one little twig, leaf, or grass tuft at a time, 
a little chickadee weaves her nest all together into a refuge against the weather. 
Yet, who hasn't seen a bird's nest also with something a little sparkly in it, 
sunlight glancing off a piece of tinsel, 
or a stray snag of ribbon fluttering in the breeze? 

My little feathered nest is created with eye-catching appeal by 
looking for great discounts, 
making homemade one-of-a-kind items, 
using objects in unexpected ways, and 
repeating colors and themes within view of each other. 



Nest feathering involves more than creating a safe haven from the world, 
more than gathering the essentials needed for a shelter.

Nest feathering includes finding the little tinsel to brighten our nests, 
or finding that snag of ribbon to flutter in the breeze,  
those special things that make our nests comfortable 
and welcoming to family, to guests, and to ourselves...

and that makes our nests uniquely ours. 




Looking for those special touches to weave into my home, 
I found these blue and white checked placemats from the 
Pottery Barn Outlet earlier this summer. 
(Someone please straighten those mats!
The shade of blue is a perfect companion for the 

I like leaving the mats on the table even when there aren't 
any dishes on them.  Plus I like using one as the base 
for a small collection of other things that feather my nest. 



Creating items myself is one way I feather my nest. 
The blue nest sign is the latest addition to my ever growing 
collection of handmade garden signs using reclaimed wood 
and photo canvas signs printed on the computer. 



Many of us find making items ourselves is a way to save money 
allowing us greater choices in how we spend our incomes. 

For me, there are two other major factors in making something myself. 
First, by making it myself I create things I cannot find in a store. 
I get to have a BLUE nest sign. 

Most of the garden signs are in shades of green or brown, 
traditional colors for gardens that appeal to many people. 
These signs will be part of my annual French Country Christmas event. 


The BLUE ones, however, are to feather my nest. 
They are the tinsel that sunlight glints off in my breakfast sunspace. 



The second other factor for making things myself is I enjoy the creativity. 
I can spend hours finding just the right twigs for the birdhouse perches, 
winding a slender vine so that it flutters around, tying an ultra narrow 
snippet of silk lavender ribbon, and positioning a single stalk of lavender. 
Creating each little birdhouse so that no two are alike... 



A decorative birdhouse emerged from a plain 2"x4" pine stud. 
Its roofline is two simple cuts to form a peak, its tin roof was cut 
from a small sheet of tin from the hardware store, and its entrance 
holes and perch holes were cut using two different sized drill bits. 



By flecking the tip of a small artist's paint brush loaded with red paint 
onto the painted white background, the spatters add visual interest 
and depth to the birdhouse's finish. 

A small spotted brown REAL bird feather gives the impression we just missed 
seeing the bird fly away. If we had just turned our heads a second sooner! 



Unexpected uses catch the eye...like tinsel and ribbon...  
and stretch our resources in our feathered nests. 



The blue ceramic platform holding a small bird surrounded by 
speckled blue eggs is a drink dispenser stand, another great 
buy from the Pottery Barn Outlet, but used in an unexpected way.  



Nest feathering... 
Using collected objects that are connected by color and by theme, 
like the garden signs and table vignette, creates maximum impact. 



A blue nest sign on a stake stands near the other garden signs. 
Variations on a theme, with no two exactly alike. 

Just as no two bird nests are exactly alike. 

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Please join me at these inspiring sites...
SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

Bird's Nest With Eggs

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Birds, feathers, nests, eggs...

Alone each one is beautiful and often the subject
of watercolors, photographs, vignettes,
china patterns, fabric designs, wallpaper...

but two aviary items found together are
more than twice the impact of one found alone.



Finding a bird's nest with eggs in the greenhouse
multiplied the pleasure of finding the nest alone.

Palest blue with brown specks...
Could I have special ordered a more beautiful nest with eggs?


Open lacy veined dead leaves,
brown curled mottled leaves,
long twisted twigs of varying thicknesses,
fine wisps of curving dried grasses
shelter the two eggs.



One eggshell remnant and one intact egg
suggest at least one hatchling
before the nest was probably abandoned by its owner.

Discovered high inside the greenhouse,
just inside on a small ledge, a bird had sought a sheltered spot
through a loose plastic flap to build its nest.
While trying to gently relocate the nest,
it tumbled to a larger shelf below,
revealing its treasured contents.

Disturbed nests are often abandoned.


Our two wooded acres outside any city limits 
provide a natural habitat for small animals, birds, and insects. 
Careful stewardship of the small landholding 
insures the smallest amount of pesticides, fertilizers,  
weed killers, and other chemicals are used. 

Nature rewards us by not only visiting, but also
by residing on the small preserve filled
with trees, both living and fallen.

Not just this bird's nest was in the greenhouse.



On the opposite end, on a high shelf inside a bookcase,
we found a second bird's nest.
No eggs.

Joy was more than quadrupled upon finding
the second bird's nest.

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Please join me at these inspiring sites...
SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

French le Lapin Spring Table

Thursday, April 17, 2014


le lapin 
A little French rabbit 



french lapin bunny spring table

Create Botanical Bird's Nests

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Simple homemade 
bird's nests
can be made from 
small purchased grapevine wreaths 
and excelsior. 

Easy to make in less than five minutes...
just in time for Easter. 


Hobby Lobby sold packages of six small three-inch grapevine wreaths 
for $1.50 per set of six at Christmas time. 
When I bought them, I knew I would use them in the spring,
thinking they would be good napkin rings. 

The flat moss and natural-colored excelsior 
also came from Hobby Lobby. 

A friend gave me a set of twelve blue bird eggs 
for my birthday last year. 



Using a small clump of excelsior, twist/swirl it into a circle, and 
stuff the excelsior in the center of the 
grapevine wreath, leaving wild strands hanging 
over the rim of the wreath. 
Use more or less excelsior depending on 
how wild and woolly you want your nests to be. 

That's it. 
All done. 

See the nests above and below for a samples. 



The small bird's nest is just the right size to sit atop a mug. 
I did not use glue so I could take the nest apart and 
use the wreaths as napkin rings as originally planned. 



Since I wanted nests and eggs in grassy meadow designed mugs, 
I decided the eggs should be green, not blue. 
See these mugs in an upcoming post, 
French le Lapin Spring Table.

Easy to change the color... 



This is a box of ColorBox stamping inkpads 
that have the consistency of watercolor paint.
The advantage of using these inkpads instead of
watercolors is no mixing of paints is needed.

I have had the ColorBox inkpads for several years, 
but saw one at Hobby Lobby last year. 
Quick tip: Store stamp pads upside down 
so the ink is always at the top. 

Using a watercolor brush and 
a very small amount of water in a ceramic bowl, 
brush the green stamping ink onto the eggs. 
Since stamping ink/watercolor is fairly transparent, 
the dark spots on the egg show through the paint. 
Do not have to paint on the spots...! 

Couldn't be easier! 

Of course, I need to clean my inkpads  
where I got limey green paint on a couple 
of adjacent colors. 
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As soon as I finished these little nests, 
I read Lucy at Craftberry Bush's post,

http://www.craftberrybush.com/2014/03/how-to-make-realistic-birds-nest.html
Lucy is truly an incredibly talented artist  
whose watercolor paintings are just beautiful.
A visit to her blog will inspire you with
her creativity and clear instructions.
Even the name of her blog,
Craftberry Bush,
inspires me. 

Immediately, I thought of ways to improve my little nests. 



The first step is to add more excelsior underneath the grapevine wreath
creating three layers: excelsior, grapevine wreath, excelsior. 
Next, add a small bit of moss, on which the egg will rest,
 to the top excelsior.  



There are always dried hydrangeas at my house that 
come from my mother's abundant hydrangea bushes. 
Two or three individual blossoms are all the small nest needs. 



Foraged small tree limbs with lichen came from a friend's house. 
If possible, just pick up an armload of small twigs from the ground. 
Lichen is also often available at craft supply stores. 
Pull one small clump apart and add to the excelsior. 

Place the botanical nest in a small rustic clay pot. 

Voilá



For permanent nests, use hot glue 
to glue the parts together as each is added. 
When placed in the top of mugs and clay pots, 
glue is not needed. 
The pot or mug holds the nest together.



Two botanical bird's nests... 

Easy to make, 
and easy to adapt to different styles. 
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If you can spend hours reading 
magazines, catalogs, and design books,  
then you are in for a treat.


Ten bloggers are joining the five hostess bloggers 
for a tour of Spring Tablescapes. 
15 blogs over 3 days

Look at the hostesses! 
Everyone of them has 
style with pizzazz! 

I am so excited that 
Botanic Bleu 
is included.
Take a peek on April 22 at 
Spirea Garden Party.
(A change in the previously announced post.
A girl can change her mind, you know.)  
Then hop, hop, hop on over 
to the other four Spring Tablescapes that day. 

Come back on April 23-24 for 
TEN more inspiring Spring tables 
in The Scoop On...Spring Tablescapes.

TUESDAY, APRIL 22
Top This Top That
Setting for Four
Botanic Bleu
Hymns and Verses
Unexpected Elegance
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23
Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Town and Country Living
Our Southern Home
Chateau Chic
Worthing Court
===
THURSDAY, APRIL 24
StoneGable
Lilacs & Longhorns
The Everyday Home
The Tablescaper
Confessions of a Plate Addict

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