Springtime Mantel and Hearth

Himself and I have been doing 'spring cleaning' this month.  I've taken advantage of it to do a bit of rearranging of shelves while everything is pulled down for cleaning.

The mantel and hearth had to be redone since the last thing on it was the Christmas nativity village.  I hadn't done anything with it since that!  Sad... I know.

I didn't start with a plan.  I just pulled this and that from other areas or things that had been stored.

I love dragonflies.  So my vase I bought in Hungary was the first thing I put up there.  The tray was made by Lee Marshall, a Tennessee potter who is becoming rather well known.  The red float was for a pop of color between those two dark pieces.

Los tres gatos.  The colorful cat is from Mexico...she makes me smile.  The little cat to the left (Grumpy Cat's cousin!) is soap stone from Kenya.  I traded a baseball cap for him.  And the little reclining cat was made by me.

For height I hung a water color by Bosnian artist Chamil.  We visited his studio, it was incredible.  The smaller painting was done by Himself's cousin.  The fun piece of driftwood Himself picked up in Alaska.  

Another piece of driftwood brought home by Himself.  The metal praying mantis we brought home just a few weeks ago from the Nashville Lawn & Garden show.  Mantis are just soooo cool!

Here's a close up of her.

In redoing my shelves I had pulled a bunch of over-sized books.  Looking at the stacked next to the fireplace I thought it might be interesting to use them on the hearth.  I really like the way they turned out with the lanterns sitting on top of them.  Looks great in the evening too with the candles lite.

Here's what it looks like together.  I'll be happy with that til it is time to change out for summer.

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