Mary Poppins Spring Mantel!

It's easy!  Let's see..You think.  You wink.  You do a double blink.  You close your eyes...and jump!

The finished product!

Okay, so Thursday there is a spring mantle linky party at The stories of a2z, and I thought, well, we don't have a mantle, but we certainly do have a long shelf that looks like a mantle (which, FYI, we got for free dumpster diving).  And let's be honest; our mantle was covered in wedding leftovers (read: fall colors).  Time to spruce things up!  So I looked at the old mantle, then I looked at some burlap bags I had lying around (they were free, so I took them), and then I looked at my hodge-podge mess of a craft room and decided it was time to get crafty.

Old Mantle

Burlap Bags

Messy Craft Room

 So then I thought; how will I make this springy?  In Indiana, the first sign of spring is when the daffodils bloom.  I love daffodils.  And then this lyric popped into my head:  "The daffodils are smiling at the doves!"  If you don't know what movie that is from by now, well, allow me to enlighten you:

MARY POPPINS!

Okay, so it may or may not be my favorite movie of all time.  And what better way to celebrate spring than with one of the greatest movies ever?  It's "Right as a morning in May!"  The youthful innocence, the bright colors, the gaiety...what?  You want me to tell you about the mantle, already?  Okay.

I started by making some silhouettes.  Not with a Silhouette fancypants machine.  With an exacto knife.  That's what us poor people use.  Spartan.  Then I added some chipboard letters and lyrics, and voila!  Some mantle decor that quite frankly would also make fantastic nursery decor.  Sigh.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
"With tuppence for paper and strings, you can have your own set of wings."
"When you're with a 'sweep, you're in glad company."

Then, I added some doodads to the mantle: a little bird (Hobby Lobby), some medicine (my own creation), a sugar bowl (Goodwill), and spoons (family heirlooms).  (Get it?  A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!)

You can't really see it in this picture, but you should know
that the medicine is Rum Punch flavored-MP's fave!

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.
Find that fun and SNAP!  The job's a game."
I tried to absorb this concept into studying for class,
but no matter how much I make studying a game,
it is still not fun.

Okay, so then I made this little shadow box for the birds, because let's face it; feeding the birds is what this whole movie is about!  (Generosity, seeing past the end of your nose, etc.)

"Feed the birds, that's what she cries; while overhead, her birds fill the skies."

Okay and then there is this scene where Bert hands MP a bouquet of flowers, but when she goes to smell them, the flowers turn into butterflies and fly away!!!  So, I put some butterflies in some vases!

Too literal?  No fear, I am going to personalize this thing, don't you worry!  The movie takes place in 1910.  How funny, I have some old family photographs from 1912-1918 (and one first communion form the 1930's).  Granted, the movie takes place in England, and the photos take place in France, but I figure it's close enough.  I took my 100-year old photos, scanned them (yeah, no way am I going to ruin those treasures!), and, wait for it....made them into a banner!  I was a little sick of sewing, so I used a hot glue gun, some ribbon, some trim, and some pieces cut from ye olde burlap bags.  Not too shabby! (Actually, it's kind of shabby chic, so maybe it is too shabby?)

My grandma at her 1st Communion!

Great grandma (I think) and her two brothers. And some other peeps.

 And one last bit:  you can't see them in the picture at the top (because they aren't there), but I added some more doodads.  For me, spring also signals the greatest holiday in Christendom: Easter.   Luckily for me, I found some old First Communion and Remembrance cards with spring themes (from France, from 1912-1918).  Again, these were 100 years old (but in fantastic condition!), so I scanned them, glued them to cardstock and folded the cardstock so that they would stand up.  Ta da!  Aren't they lovely?

Flowers from Bethlehem.

Yes, I realize the one on the left is in German.
Historical tidbit: My family is from Alsace-Lorraine, France,
a border region that bounced back and forth from French to German control and back, so everyone in that area simply spoke both languages.  Cool, huh?

So here is my final product: not as clean as the picture you saw at the beginning of the post, but for me, it carries so much sentimental value.  With these artifacts, I feel like I am right there in turn-of-the-century Europe, singing along with Julie Andrews!

In the words of Mr. Banks: "How pleasant is the life I lead!"

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