A vignette is just a grouping or gathering of items, arranged together in a manner that is pleasing to the eye.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a vignette:
· Add an odd number of items to your vignette
· Use objects of varying heights
· Use objects of varying texture
· Try using something quirky or unexpected in your vignette
· Add a natural element when possible
A Few Ingredients
Here are a few items (I think of them as the key ingredients) that I like to keep on hand for spring. Just as flour, sugar, and baking soda make a good base for some baked goods, so too these items will help you to pull together a vignette.
In a vignette, you want to have a few items that you are showcasing. What really upgrades your vignette are the little connecting pieces that don’t steal the show but support the showcase pieces. For a spring vignette, I like to include:
· Green moss balls
· Faux moss
· Twine balls
· Pinecones
· Faux eggs
· Something seasonal like dried flowers, bird or bunny figurines
Things to Keep in Mind
· Remember you want to keep an odd number of items in your vignette but some items, grouped together, will read as one item. Say for instance that you have two faux eggs with a pinecone grouped together—that will read as one item not 3.
· Don’t overcrowd your vignette. If you are putting items together and feel like there is a lot going on—there just might be! Try taking a few items away and see what you think.
· Set it and then walk away. It is easy to start over-analyzing everything you are doing so try setting the vignette and then walking away for a bit before coming back. If you do this, you will most likely easily see what needs to be changed—or you may decide that it is perfect the way it is!
Especially for Spring
I love adding faux moss and moss balls, Easter eggs and twine balls to my vignette but what about the bigger pieces? For spring, I love adding bird figurines, little bunny figurines, a plant, and possibly even an Easter sign or vintage floral postcard.
Easter Vignette Ideas
Here are a few things I have added to my vignettes this spring.
This vignette was done in a dough bowl and I added:
· Moss balls
· Faux Easter eggs
· Pinecones
· A twine ball
Birdcage Vignette:
· A wooden bird figurine perched on a candlestick
· Two antique bobbins
· A round little vase for some dried flowers
· A Faux Egg
· Moss in the bottom
Vignette in a box:
· Moss
· Two bird figurines
· Vintage bottle vase
· A sprig of dried flowers
I hope these ideas help to inspire you to have fun and get creative with your decor this spring/Easter season. As always—happy decorating!
If you are here, chances are you just might like my writing. (wink) If you Drop your email address in the box below I’ll save you time by emailing you the link every time a new post comes out!
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’”
Isaiah 45:9
I have mentioned before that one of my hobbies is making glass beads. (See the post, The Refining Fire.) I have made more than my fair share of beads that have not turned out the way I wanted them to—at all! And, while I have had many moments where I shook my head at the outcome of my efforts, I have never had a bead tell me that it did not like the way I made it! But that is what we do with God, isn’t it?
There are many things in this life that I wish I could do better. There are many things I wish I could do even a little bit! I wish I had some musical ability; I wish I was quicker at math; I wish I liked technology and was better with it than I am. Alas, no one asked for my opinion when I was being created in my mother’s womb. I have a whole list of things I would have swapped out and added if it had been left up to me. But it wasn’t.
This verse also makes me think about when people ask why a good God would let such terrible things happen in this world. That’s not really how He made things at the beginning. The terrible things were our fault—not His. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden enjoying a blissful life unlike anything we’ve ever seen. They were in harmony with nature, with each other, and with God. Then, they went and ruined everything. The Serpent was in the Garden and he questioned Eve, tempted her, and got her to doubt God for just long enough for her to take a bite of the forbidden fruit. Adam was there, but apparently he did nothing to stop her. All at once, evil was introduced into the world. And the Garden was no longer a place of bliss.
We do not know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before this happened. Presumably it was a while, but not so very long. Do any of us think we possess any more will power than Adam and Eve? We have the benefit of hindsight, similar to telling the character not to open the door that we know the villain is lurking behind. We know what they were introducing to the world by their initial sin. However, Adam and Eve did not and could not, fully grasp what their sin would do not just to them but to all of humanity. Conversely, we cannot imagine the communion they had with God prior to the fall.
Yet we think we know better. We think that a good God should not allow things like this to happen. But why do we think we could design a better world when we were the ones who messed it up the first time? Who are we to tell the creator that we don’t like the way He created us? Who are we to question and complain about the abilities we wish we had? Who are we to say the He designed the world, His creation, all wrong?
Perhaps we spend too much time asking why we were made in such a way rather than seeking how we can use the way we were made to serve Him. Perhaps we should ask Him how he wants us to use our specific talents and abilities to convey his love; how He wants us to respond to all the hurting souls in the world, and how we should demonstrate our faith and trust in Him. How can we show Him that we believe He knows what He is doing and that He has everything under control? Most importantly we need to seek how can we be more like Him.
We have made it to March—my official least favorite month of the year. March is the month when we get our first few nice days and I decide I’m ready for spring and then it decides to snow again. Given this tug of war that the weather plays on us, it quickly begins to feel like spring lingers on forever, but never really arrives. However, while I may have to wait on spring outside, it can be spring inside my home. I have decided to start decorating for spring!
Spring is such a fun time of year to do a decorating refresh! After the Christmas decor has been put away, things can seem a little bare. Sometimes it is nice to keep out some of the sparkly branches, and other times it’s refreshing to just rest in the minimalism of having very limited decor. Usually though, by early spring I am itching to add a little bit of color and a few other spring touches to my home!
As always, I like to start with doing a little audit of my home. I ask myself these questions before I reward myself with the fun part of decorating:
· Has my home gotten cluttered? What needs to be purged?
· Is there something broken that I’ve been putting off fixing or touching up?
· What isn’t working well? Do I need to rearrange or rethink anything?
· Is there anything I’ve been meaning to buy that will make daily life easier that I just need to sit down and order?
After I have gone through those questions I get to the fun part—the actual decorating!
Flowers
I love flowers in my decor. I tend to stick to decorating with dried flowers as they last practically forever, generally look better than faux, and are lower maintenance than real. Spring is a great time to reintroduce some flowers and greenery to your decor. I like to keep the colors of my flowers muted for spring because: 1) that’s more my style, and 2) I like to save bright pops of color for summer.
Greenery
Speaking of flowers, spring also a great time to add in greenery. Faux moss or moss balls add natural touches of the season; if your home is still feeling a little sterile maybe think about welcoming an additional house plant or two into your home. Plants are natural air fresheners and even a plant killer like me has managed to keep air plants, spider plants, and several different types of ivy alive!
Color
Spring is a time of year when we see a lot of pastel colors… I’m not the biggest fan of pastels though. If you are not a pastel person or don’t have a color pallet in your home that works well with pastels consider adding a few of these colors to your decor for spring if you are craving color after winter’s barrenness:
· Salmon Pink
· Deep Turquoise
· Light Aqua
· Sea Green
· Sage
· Green Grass Green (also known as John Deere Green..)
· A Bright Daffodil Yellow
· Bright Tulip Red
· Spring Crocus Purple
Cute But Not Too Cute…
Spring is also when we see a lot of bunnies, birds, chicks, and other such little cuties appearing in decor. The key to adding these to your decor is to not get too cute with them. Usually a safe way to do this is to try to find vintage versions of these (or at least ones that look vintage), or versions of these done in an unusual medium such as wood or glass and then adding them to your decor. Also, instead of pairing a chick with an egg try mixing it up; don’t add more than one little cute figurine to your decor or vignette at a time. Instead, pair a cute bunny with a few vintage items. This will add an unexpected touch to your decor, lending just a touch of visual tension and will keep things interesting!
Keeping Your Decor From Getting To Summery
Besides keeping your colors more muted and toned down, I like to pair my spring decor with vintage items. I love adding soft white flowers to a dark amber bottle as a vase. I will always love white vases and such but during spring I love playing up the vintage with the lighter spring colors as I think this juxtaposing adds an earthy depth to your decor that really makes it pop!
Holes
Do you have any holes in your decor? Is there something you’ve been telling yourself for months or maybe even years (like last spring and the one before that) that you’ve been wanting for your decor? While I am not a big proponent of buying new decor every season (See my post on how I repurpose my decor for my centerpiece here: Centerpieces Throughout the Year), I am a proponent of thoughtfully adding a few new touches when needed—-especially if it is something that you keep wanting season after season.
I hope this helps to inspire you to refresh your home and to get excited about the season we are about to enter! Be sure to check back next week when I’ll be giving some ideas for different spring and Easter vignette ideas. Be sure you’ve joined my email list (you can do this by inserting your email address in the box at the bottom of your screen) so you don’t miss it!
But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Psalms 86:15
Have you ever told a lie, even just a little one? What about a big one? Have you gotten caught in the lie, been humiliated when everything came to light, and then years later done exactly the same thing again? That is what Abraham did.
Abraham is traveling with his wife Sara through Egypt when Sara catches Pharaoh’s eye. Abraham tells Sara that, if questioned, she should say that she is Abraham’s sister. Now this is partially true; they had the same father, but they definitely were married. Pharaoh, upon hearing that Sara is Abraham’s sister, takes her as his wife. Plagues visit Egypt and it is revealed to Pharaoh that Sara is in fact Abraham’s wife. Pharaoh immediately calls Abraham and tells him to take Sara, pack up his belongings, and get out of Egypt!
Years later a similar thing happens. Abraham and Sara are traveling through Gerar when King Abimelech sees Sara. Abraham tells Sara to repeat the lie that worked out so well for them in Egypt—and Sara does this! This time, Abraham was afraid that because Sara was so beautiful that the king would kill him to take Sara. But again, we saw this play out once already. Things are not going well for King Abimelech. God comes to the king in a dream and tells him to release Sara back to Abraham because Sara is Abraham’s wife. Abimelech listens to God and Sara and Abraham once again pack up and leave.
Now when I read this I say what? How does this happen because:
Why would Abraham repeat the same lie when it didn’t go well the first time, and
Why would Sara go along with it?
Personally, I can understand Abraham fearing for his life and coming up with the plan the first time but as Sara, I really don’t know that I would go along with it the second time—especially when this would mean being taken away from her household and living in a strange culture in the King’s palace. (Well, living in the palace part doesn’t sound so bad…)
Though this is a very blatant example of a family making the same bad decision twice, we see repeated examples of people making terrible choices and decisions throughout the Bible. The Israelites mess up time and time again, and repeatedly have to be brought back from their worship of false gods—even after they had witnessed the miracle of God parting the Red Sea. Then there is Peter who denied Christ not once, not twice, but three times!
We read about these events but do we really absorb them? Do we truly grasp what an all-loving, patient God we serve? We mess up in our lives; we beat ourselves up and think what horrible people and Christians we are, forgetting that we are merely humans living in a fallen world. But, He is abundantly merciful, full of grace, patient and kind. We should strive to serve God with all of hearts, souls and minds as the Bible commands. We aren’t perfect and that is not news to God. While we might be surprised at our frail humanity, God isn’t. The good thing is He never asks us to be perfect. He asks us to love Him and through doing so He will make us more like Him.
Hey! May I Send You Something?
If you are here, chances are you just might like my writing. (wink) If you Drop your email address in the box below I’ll save you time by emailing you the link every time a new post comes out!
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
What I love about historical fiction is how it can bring to life little-known events and shed light on overlooked people. We hear so much about the men throughout history but as the saying goes, “Behind every great man is a great woman.” While this may, or may not be completely true, here are several books about the wives of some of history’s famous men.
The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
This is a book about the life of Charles Lindbergh’s wife. You have no doubt heard about Charles Lindbergh (the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic), but have you heard about his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh? Anne was the daughter of an affluent family and an aviator in her own right also. This book, told in the first person, is about Anne’s life growing up and how she came to be Mrs. Lindbergh. I found this book fascinating as I knew only a little about Charles Lindbergh and nothing about his wife; however, if you are hoping for a book that goes to great lengths to investigate the disappearance of their baby this book does not offer that. What it does offer is a glimpse into the life of a woman who was remarkable apart from the man to whom she was married.
I mentioned this book in my post (books I have been enjoying lately) , but this is a story of Joy Davidman Lewis. Joy was stuck in a loveless marriage with an abusive and cheating husband. They had two young boys. On a whim, she decided to write to C. S. Lewis with some spiritual questions she had. He wrote back and, being a writer and poet herself, Joy and C. S. Lewis discover they have a lot in common. C. S. Lewis invites her to visit England. As her marriage continues to deteriorate, Joy finally travels to England and her friendship with C. S. Lewis deepens. They have totally different backgrounds and lifestyles yet they find a deep friendship birthed in their mutual love of literature and philosophy. I really enjoyed this peak into C. S. Lewis’s personal life and I learned a lot!
In an age where money was everything and society was a game to play, Alva Smith is starting out on the bottom rung. With her mother dead and her family’s once prestigious wealth depleting quickly after the Civil War, Alva needs to hurry and land an eligible husband before it is too late. Not only does Alva manage to marry one of the richest men in America, William Kissam Vanderbilt, but she plays the games and climbs the social ladder. Seen by some as a cold and calculating woman, Alva doesn’t seem to care what people think. All she knows is that even being married into the wealthiest family in the country isn’t enough—she needs to land at the top of New York’s social elite if she really wants to secure her place in society. But at what cost?
If you read my post, Should You Read My Dear Hamilton If You Didn’t Love America’s First Daughter, then you know I have mixed feelings about this author. I loved one of her books and really didn’t care for one of her others—so what was I going to think about this one? Turns out I loved it! The story rotates from the points of view of three different women during the periods of the 1780s, WW I, and WW II. In 1774, we meet Adrienne de Noailles, or Adrienne Lafayette as she is better known, who is the wife of the Marquis de Lafa. Adrienne was a kind woman of stalwart courage. Not only would France’s history be much different without this woman but so would America’s. We then travel to 1914 where we meet Beatrice Chanler who decides to get involved in the war effort which could possibly involve turning Lafayette’s home into an orphanage; and then we meet Marthe who is presently serving as a school teacher to the ill children who reside in Lafayette’s once home, now school for ill children. How this chateau has played a part in such varied history is truly fascinating!
This is a story about Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln and the friendship that was forged between her and her dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley. Mary’s childhood was an indulgent one, growing up among affluent in Tennessee’s high society. Elizabeth was a former slave who had learned to make a way in the world for herself with her talent as a seamstress, buying her own freedom in the process. Though Mary’s life may have been one of affluence, it was not without its struggles, struggles that culminated during the Civil War years as Mary led her life married to the man who was leading the Civil War, a war in which Mary’s entire family was on the opposing side. Add to that losing a son (her second child to not survive to adulthood) during her husband’s time in office and we can see some of the factors as to why Mary received the nickname of “That Female Hellcat”. With her husband preoccupied with the war, Mary leans heavily on her friendship with Elizabeth.
I hope, if you decide to pick up any of these titles, you will enjoy them and gain a little more rounded view of history. If you do decide to pick up any of these titles, I encourage you to use the affiliate link in this post. This is a way you can tangibly support this blog—and at no extra cost to you!
