Caity Healy | Lifestyle Editor

Birds are chirping, the weather goes from downpour to blue skies in a matter of hours, flowers are blooming and there’s a sense of optimism in the air. Spring has finally sprung, and with it comes the brightness and beauty of the season.

While this time of the year can offer you endless opportunities for pairing your outfits with either rain boots or sandals depending on the time of day, it can also offer an opportunity to brighten up your home with spring décor.
Of course, the option is always there to purchase your decorations, but instead I urge you to get crafty and make them yourself. It can offer a rainy-day activity to help liven up the space around you. So, get your art supplies out and get started on some of these projects.

Bright Chalkboard
Do some searching and purchase or find an old cheap mirror — I found mine at Goodwill for only $3. Apply tape to the border to make sure you don’t get paint on anything other than the glass. Use chalkboard paint and paint the surface. Apply two coats, and make sure to leave a good amount of time for it to dry in between coats. After this dries completely, paint the border of the mirror with a bright spring color, which can be any pastel. Once this dries, use colorful chalk to write fun messages on the board for your roommates or guests to see.

Ombre Vase
Find a cheap vase that you can paint on — I found mine at JoAnn’s Craft Store for $3. Find a bright acrylic paint, and mix it with white several times to create six different shades of the same color. With your vase, paint stripes on it one by one, but quickly enough as to not let them dry completely and letting the two blend together. You can stop the design at any point or carry it to the top. However, if you want to stop it, use tape to make sure you get an even line. Fill with flowers, real or fake, that match the color you painted on the vase.

Spring Garland
On white cardstock, cut into six separate squares, spell out “spring” using bold, large letters. Using separate colored cardstock, which can be of any bright spring hue, cut it into six larger squares. Paste the letters onto these squares. Using six separate clothespins, paint them a different shade that will match well with the colored paper you used previously. With a long piece of twine — which can be any size depending on how long you want the garland to be — pin the letters onto the string.

Contact the author at chealy16@mail.wou.edu

Photo by: Caity Healy