I think you’re going to LOOOVE my special guest this week!!  My friend Kami is a thrifty, crafty maven over at her blog, No Biggie.  She always has something fun up her sleeve like she’s sharing here today!………take it away Kami……..

Hi TidyMom fans!

I’m Kami, and I blog at NoBiggie, nobiggie.net. I love to share crafts – recipes – thrift store finds – quick tips and pictures of my kids :). With a name like NoBiggie, I can get away with it all. 🙂

I’m thrilled to be here. Cheryl’s recipes and food photography inspires me. I’m excited to make some Easter cookies in the next few weeks.

Today I’m sharing with you a simple thrifty craft that has the look of something you would buy at a boutique (don’t you love that?!) It’s a Spring centerpiece – a robin’s egg nest.

I still love the color combination of turquoise blue and chocolate brown, and this is a fun way to highlight those colors together.

DIY thrifty spring centerpiece at TidyMom.net

I love to thrift store shop and I’ve found some great finds…along with a bunch of things that I brought home that I now question “what the heck was I thinking?” 🙂 Well, today I’m turning that purchase into something better. (thank goodness!)

Here is what you’ll need to make this Spring centerpiece:

wooden easter eggs: $2.00 – (the questionable thrift store find) turquoise ribbon: $2.00 DecoArt paint (2 – 2oz. bottles): $2.50 (Joann’s or Michaels craft stores) spanish moss: $2.50 grapevine wreath: $2.00 – thrift store apothecary jar: $12.00 (thrifted) – you could use big mason jars here too

Total cost – 11.00 plus glass jars (mason jars or apothecary jars)

Step 1: Take apart an old grapevine wreath. I have found that a soak in warm water in your sink can help loosen up the shape of the wreath. You only need a few thin branches from the wreath, but it helps to take it apart a bit to get what you need from it.

Step 2: Clean up those wooden easter eggs from the thrift store. These little eggs were meant to hang from one of those little easter trees, so they all had little strings hanging from the bottoms. I first chipped off the hot glue and pulled out those strings before I began painting.

Step 3: Paint the eggs. The first coat of craft paint I used here is Spa Blue by DecoArt. To hold the eggs up while they dry, I used toothpicks and floral foam.

Step 4: Speckle the eggs. With Dark Chocolate by DecoArt, I flicked bits of paint onto the blue eggs giving them that speckled look. You might want to do this step outside. It’s a bit messy.
Step 5: Clear gloss coat. This step is not shown here, but find a clear glossy top coat to give the eggs a shine.

Step 6: Tie a matching turquoise ribbon around the glass container. Finish off the edges of the cut ribbon by melting the edges with a candle. This is one of my favorite quick tips.

Step 7: Assemble everything together. Layer in pieces of the grapevine wreath, spanish moss and then the blue eggs.

Voila! There you have a fun Spring-y center piece. Inexpensive too!

Thanks for having me today, Cheryl!