I love the look of the shabby frames and the book page backgrounds. I've been intrigued by this type of art for a while now, called "Specimen Art"- it is all over Pinterst in many different themes. I decided to go for it. Madisyn was napping and I really wanted to have something to put on my Spring Mantel, so I decided to see what I could come up with- with materials I already had.
My sister gave me about 15 books of fabric samples last summer- I've used a few sheets here and there, but never as the feature of a project. I saw them stacked neatly on the shelf of my Craft Table and a light bulb went off.
I also had a mish-mash of old frames with very old photos on my craft room window sill. I took the photos out and jazzed them up with a little GOLD spray paint.
I remembered I have a very old Encyclopedia sitting around waiting for me to do something with it....
First Steps:
- Created a Stencil out of cardboard to cut around for both sizes of my eggs.
- Picked out and cut my fabric samples out of the books.
- Tore pages out of my vintage encyclopedia and cut them down to fit inside my frames.
- Glued each Egg to the book page with Tacky Glue
I decided to go two diffferent routes with this project and ended up with two different results. I did do the traditional Specimen Art approach with one of my gold frames.
Mini Specimen Art
- Spread a bead of Tacky Glue around the inside of the frame where I wanted my book page to attach.
- Carefully laid my book page face down inside the frame and ran my finger around the edges to make sure the glue would adhere.
- Let dry upside down like this for a little bit.
- And turned it over to reveal my beautiful piece of art!
Specimen Ar Super-Sized
The second approach I took, was a variation on the style- I like to call it "Specimen Art Super-Sized". The look I decided I was going for was more rustic than the gold frames I painted would provide. Lucky for me, I hand-crafted around 30 Rustic Frames for my wedding and I still have a few sitting around the house unused! I used Anna White's great Barnwood Frame Plan to build these- so easy, I hope you give it a try!- Glued each Super-Sized Egg (cut with my large stencil I made) into the middle of it's own book page.
- Repeat for 6 eggs.
- I didn't want to make the use of these frames permanent for Easter, so I decided to thumb tack my book pages into place for these frames- that way I can remove them if I want to put them to a different use!
I made six of these- each with a different texture and color hue than the others. And I absolutely LOVE the way they turned out for my Easter Mantel. Below are photos of my Easter Decor- Enjoy!
Other Noteworthy Elements to my Design:
- The Branches are in vases with water- they are Cherry Blossom Branches from my front yard, and they have PINK BLOOMS!!! I will post a photo in a week or so when they open- they are SO beautiful!
- The Rustic Candle Sticks are made from scrap 4x4- aren't they great?
- Vintage Sheet Music is shredded for nest stuffing under my Craft Paper Eggs.
- The ADORABLE baby photos are my daughter Madisyn- I thought the style and coloring of these photos went well with the concept, so I found this frame I've had for 15 years on a shelf and added them in- She's our little Easter Bunny.
I hope these Vignettes inspire you to start working on your Easter Decor! Have a great day and thanks for reading!