Spring Fever...or is it Cabin Fever?

I've gone a little off the deep end trying to bring a little bit of springtime (aka UN-winter) into the house.  

It's ridiculously, bitterly cold right now.  

The following represents what I've been messing around with for the last couple of weeks.  

It started like this:  I made a couple of these "Prosperity Hens" for Xmas presents...

...And they were so cute!  They were these little stuffed fabric birdies hung with beads and a little bell at the bottom.   That got me thinking about mobiles.  

Why not use these little bird shapes with real pieces of wood from my yard?  

I dug some sticks out of the snow, scraped the bark off and gave them a little sanding.  The picture doesn't really do it justice though, there are 4 tiers and 20 birds.  I am in love with it.  It has very subtle movement--very sweet to look at.

MOBILE #1  BIRDS ON BRANCHES

Then I went to the Hobby Shop and bought some piano wire and "forced" my husband to fold some origami cranes.  Yep, I had to twist his arm really hard to get him to do that.  I made these next two mobiles using his fancy shiny cranes.  I spent about $1.40 on piano wire and $5.00 on shiny paper.

MOBILE #2  SHINY ASS CRANES

MOBILE #3  CROOKED CRANES

On mobile #3 there are a few more levels and about nine more cranes that aren't showing.  It's the principle of the thing.  These things make me feel like winter is going to be over soon.  They make me smile.  A lot.

The last thing I did which I am also IN LOVE with is to plant some wheatgrass.  I actually don't have a juicer, so the wheatgrass is of little nutritional use for me, but we always have wheatberries on hand (for bread making) so I thought why not sprout some and just have a beautiful patch of GREEN in the kitchen?  I used my Aerogarden (which wasn't currently in use to grow one of their kits) and a simple tray.  The grow lamp on the Aerogarden is also something that definitely helps my mood--it's bright and always sun-shiny bright when I get up in the morning.  

Necessary.  

Winter Indoor "Lawn"

So, despite the frigid temps, there are touches of warmth.  Springtime is just around the corner.  

I have hope.