Decorate a tray for Spring with a lantern, blue speckled eggs, bird's nest, books and greenery. This sweet vignette is perfect for Spring!

    

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Hi friend, welcome to this month's Pinterest Challenge!

When the leader of our group, Cindy of County Road 407, sent out the inspiration picture for this month, I thought I'd have to pass on this month's challenge.

Why? Because it features a painted birdhouse as the focal point, and I didn't have a birdhouse or even a birdcage that I could use. I also didn't want to spend any money on this challenge, even though I was very tempted to just go out and buy a birdhouse!

Inspiration

Let me show you what I mean. This was our inspiration for this month. A lovely Spring decorated tray by Doreen at Hymns and Verses. I love all the greenery, the softs blues and greens she used, and of course, that stunning birdhouse!

I didn't have a birdhouse, but then I remembered a set of lanterns I had. Their shape is very similar to the birdhouse in the inspiration photo. And their chippy white paint and metal roof was perfect for a Spring vignette!

My son used to work at Hobby Lobby and bought me a pair of these lanterns for Christmas one year. I don't think HL sells them anymore, but here is a similar lantern with the top that lifts up.

Thinking outside the decorative box

I grabbed one of the lanterns and put it into a thrifted wire basket. It was a perfect fit, and I filled the inside of the lantern with all of my chalk painted blue speckled eggs and the DIY antique eggs I made, as well as the blue painted gingham eggs I made years ago.

I tied a wide lace ribbon around the top of the lantern to soften it a little and it was looking very Spring-y indeed!

The round decorative elements on the lantern even mimic the holes of a birdhouse.

You can see that I was able to keep my decorated tray pretty close to the original inspiration as I had many of the same elements...a rectangular tray/basket, greenery, small oval frame and a little bird's nest filled with eggs.

Way back when I was a brand new blogger, I shared my method of creating speckled robins eggs using plastic eggs and chalk paint. You can see that tutorial here. I'm planning to paint a bunch more this year and use them to fill bowls.

You might already know how much I love the color blue, in all its shades! So while the majority of my elements in this Spring vignette are neutral, I found ways to add some pretty blues with the eggs I used, as well as some vintage books.

I didn't have room in my basket for all the florals and branches that Doreen used, but I did have room for a pot of greenery. In front of it is a smaller, painted flower pot that I filled with moss and added a stone bird to.

The flower pot is just a simple and inexpensive terracotta pot from the dollar store that I painted blue (big surprise right?)! 

I used a gorgeous duck egg blue chalk paint called Elegance from Country Chic. It pairs so nicely with the earthy, neutral tones in my Spring vignette!

Don't miss my painted and aged flower pot wreath that I recently made with more dollar store flower pots!

I guess I lied 😏 I told you that I didn't buy anything for this project, but I did. I bought the stone birds ( see similar here). Oops. But they were inexpensive and aren't strictly seasonal, so I know I'll get a lot of use from them!

I decorate with a lot of blues and aqua in my home, so I already had decorative objects in the right colors to get the same feel in my Spring tray vignette.

I anchored the lantern with some turquoise hard cover books on one side, and a pot with greenery on the other side.

Can you believe that I found this tray at the thrift store for only $6.99? I've had it for close to 10 years now and still love everything about it. It's a generous size for actually serving with, and I love the mix of textures from the wood handles to the iron frame and the basket liner.

I've had these small oval frames forever too, and years ago I printed out a fancy 'L'. I didn't see the need to change it out as it's neutral and works great for this challenge!

Here's a peek at the herringbone table that Mr DIY and I built last weekend! I am so in love with it! Watch for a how to soon!

Doreen styled her Spring bird house tablescape on her dining table, but my dining table is already decorated with my vintage blue and white dishes, so I decorated the tray here in our living room instead.

I hope this helps you to think outside the box when you are wanting to recreate a look that you see on a decorating blog or in a home decor magazine. Make sure to hop over to Sweet Pea next. Paula has so many vintage goodies and treasured keepsakes, it's always a fun visit!

Let's see what my fellow Pinterest Challenge groupies came up with for this month's challenge. You can click on each image for a closer look!

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