How to Make a Spring Centerpiece for the Birds

kayte terry, contributor

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A tiny birdie plus an egg-filled nest looks almost magical!

Kayte Terry

I used white ceramic vases, but if you choose clear vessels, you could fill them with candy eggs.

Kayte Terry

Kayte Terry

A tiny birdie plus an egg-filled nest looks almost magical!

Photo: Kayte Terry

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Are you ready for spring? I know I am. Here on the East Coast, winter seems to drag on and on. By April most of us are a little stir-crazy and impatiently waiting for those first signs of spring. As I write this, it's still only 42 degrees, so I am left with no choice but to craft a little spring for myself.

This spring display is based loosely on the centerpiece I made for fall. I like to imagine that nature took its course and magically transformed my fall centerpiece into this sweet spring wonderland. The leaves and acorns fell off for winter, the branches started blooming, and birds made their nests in the little branches.

What you'll need:

• Small bowls
• White glue
• Water
• Small spongebrush
• Plastic wrap
• A few yards of chunky yarn
• Fabric scissors
• Cotton fabric scraps in brown and green prints
• Hot glue
• Twigs
• Vases or other vessels
• Floral foam
• A few little fake birds
• Egg-shaped candy (Jordan almonds or Cadbury Mini Eggs are great!)

Making the nests:

1. In a small bowl, mix equal parts white glue and water.

If you don't have white glue, you can also stiffen yarn with a simple syrup made from sugar and water or with fabric sizing.

2. Line another small bowl with plastic wrap.

I started coiling my nests with yarn outside of the bowl, then put the small coil at the bottom of the bowl to continue.

3. Starting at the bottom center of the bowl, coil yarn a few times and brush the coil with glue. Continue coiling the yarn to make the nest and brushing with glue. Make sure the nest is coated with enough glue to hold it together.

4. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours.

Wrapping the twigs:

You can wrap the twigs with different fabrics or even just wrap parts of the twigs.

1. Cut your fabric scraps into 1/2-inch strips. Apply a small dot of hot glue to the base of a twig and secure one end of a fabric strip to the glue.

2. Alternate wrapping and gluing the fabric strips until you cover the twig. You can change fabrics if you like.

You don't need too many leaves; remember, these are just the first signs of spring!

3. Cut out a few small leaves from green fabric.

Assembling the centerpiece:

1. Cut floral foam to fit the vessels you want to use. I used a few pretty white ceramic vases and one vintage milk glass vase. Alternately, if your vessels are clear, you can fill them with a bunch of candy eggs.

2. Add your twigs to the vessels as desired.

A tiny birdie plus an egg-filled nest looks almost magical!

3. Hot-glue the yarn nests to the twigs and add birds and an egg or two!

4. Cover the floral foam with some candy eggs.

Variation: You can also use the yarn nests filled with candy eggs as decorative elements on place settings.

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Spring Centerpiece...
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Comments (5)

PatternShmattern writes: What a good idea. So cute. Thanks for sharing. I made one too and posted it to my blog.
Posted: 9:51 am on March 29th

smita writes: thats really wonderful!!!!
Posted: 1:20 am on August 9th

iluvglitter writes: So cute! So simple too! I will definitely have to try this.

Posted: 4:43 am on April 10th

iluvglitter writes: So cute! So simple too! I will definitely have to try this.

Posted: 4:43 am on April 10th

PassiFlora_magazine writes: Ooooo that is just too cute! We are having an Easter show-case at PassiFlora magazine. Would you be interested in being featured? More details at http://passifloramag.com/2009/04/easter-special/
Posted: 2:21 pm on April 9th

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