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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

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. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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. 
❦
~~~~~~~~~~
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
===
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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