Tag Archives | 2014

Easter Table Settings and Decorations

April 12, 2014

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This past Sunday I had an unexpected and wonderful surprise from a friend. Hannah helped my good friend Ruthie put together an event and afterward she came home with a large tray of wheat grass and daffodils. Ruthie knew I would enjoy decorating with it.

Thank you Ruthie!

Wheatgrass is available at most grocery stores in the produce department and some home and garden retailers. While I will be decorating with it, most people will buy and use wheatgrass as nourishment for their bodies by juicing it. In terms of nutrition, it is rich in chlorophyll, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. A multipurpose plant to enjoy as a drink and for decorating.

Here’s how I used wheatgrass and daffodils to decorate my house…

The containers wheatgrass came in were not the best for displaying. A simple solution was to wrap a long strip of white paper around the sides to cover it up. A white tray was used to hold two containers together.

Simple arrangements of wheatgrass and daffodils lined the center of the table.

The plastic containers were removed and replaced with bowls and cups from my kitchen for this display.

Fill a large bucket with wheatgrass and scatter a few eggs on top to greet visitors at the front door on Easter Sunday.

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posted by: Kay

5 comments

Packaging, Chocolate Carrots

April 9, 2014

Found these mini crispy chocolate carrots by Palmer at Target recently and I thought they would be a cute addition to the Easter treats. I took the carrots out of their original netting bags and repackaged them in small plastic bags {3″ x 3″}. To make the chocolate carrots look like they were poking out from the ground, I added chocolate rocks and brown paper grass.

Another simple packaging idea for these chocolate carrots is to put them in a clear cello bag and tie it with a ribbon.

fun treats & simple packaging

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posted by: Kay

0 comments

Roasted Potatoes and Haricots Verts

April 5, 2014

Preparing an Easter menu and in need of a side dish?…

Roasted potatoes and haricots verts is a wonderful accompaniment for ham, salmon, chicken or beef. The combination of crispy potatoes and tender beans with rosemary is delicious and simple to prepare for a large or a small gathering with friends and family.

Haricot verts {ah-ree-koh VEHR} are French green beans. They are stringless slender green beans and widely cultivated in France. They are available in most grocery stores and other specially stores {Whole Foods Market & Trader Joe’s}. This is my favorite beans to use in cooking year-round.

{print recipe, Here}
serves 8-10

Ingredients
3 pounds red potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 pound haricots verts {French green beans}, trimmed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
coarse salt and pepper

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425˚ F .
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread potatoes on a baking sheet, then drizzle with olive oil, add rosemary and salt. Toss together then spread out potatoes in a single layer. Roast 1 hour until potatoes are crispy/golden brown and tender inside.

{10-15 minutes before the potatoes are done}

Bring a pot filled with enough water to cover the beans to a boil over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and green beans and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the beans are crisp-tender. Drain beans and transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pot, melt the butter over medium/low heat. Add garlic and stir for 30-40 seconds.

Add cooked beans, salt and pepper and toss. Turn heat off.

When the potatoes are done baking, take the pan out of the oven and loosen potatoes off the baking sheet. They will be brown and crispy on the underside.

Add haricots verts to the potatoes and toss gently. Transfer to a bowl and serve

Simple dinner, store bought rotisserie chicken with roasted potatoes and haricots verts.

{print recipe, Here}

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posted by: Kay

0 comments

Decorating with Eggs

March 29, 2014

Easter will soon be upon us along with coloring and dying Easters eggs. But for now to welcome Spring, I like to simply use and display eggs without any {or very little} adornments and in their natural pure form. Here I have filled a large white platter with an assortment of eggs with a sprinkle of feathers from my chickens as a center piece for a gathering or other entertainment.

Placing eggs in a small ceramic crate egg holder is another simple and easy display to do. Having a few eggs on the kitchen counter is a pretty sight. I love seeing the many beautiful shades of cream, brown, and green eggshells. It’s always handy to have some nearby for cooking and baking too.

To show off a particular egg {in a subtle manner}, I placed it on a white plate with a bed of green moss, a paper nest, and covered it with a glass dome. This little light brown egg with tiny dark speckles came from one my chickens. I kept the eggshell along with a few others as an inspiration for possible paint colors and for other uses. A great way to display and protect a fragile egg.

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few antique egg prints and one of the ways I like to display the collection is to group them together. This will bring attention and cohesiveness to the display wall.

Interested in collecting vintage prints, a good place to start your search is at the website, Panteek. They have a wide variety of egg prints and many other vintage prints to choose from.

{print vintage egg print 1 Here, print vintage egg print 2 Here}

Another source for egg prints and many other vintage prints is the website, Vintage Printable. All are free for you to print/dowload till your heart’s content. The two vintage egg prints above came from there. I changed the background and made it lighter and sharpened the images slightly. Feel free to use these egg prints however you like.

For an Easter table centerpiece, my friend Lynn put this together using a variety of baby lettuce plants, pansies and moss. Tuck a few eggs randomly in the centerpiece to add a touch of playfulness. After Easter, it can go outside to be enjoyed a little longer and the lettuce leaves will be a wonderful addition to a mixed green salad or a sandwich.

To add a personal touch, personalize each place setting and/or gift with an Easter tag.
Free printable Easter gift tags, Here.

I hope you enjoy decorating with eggs this Spring!

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posted by: Kay

0 comments

Spring Inspiration Board

March 22, 2014

Welcome Spring!

The urge to tidy up and put things away has been on my mind for the past few months. Finally, I had some time available last week to really sit down and sift through the piles of stuff growing in every part of our house. All the cleaning, organizing and removing of unneeded things felt really good, but so much more still to get done.

This Spring Inspiration Board is my little distraction from the cleaning and dusting… lovely and pretty things to look forward to this spring season.

{images & sources starting from the Top then left to right}

✽ Sweet little egg planters from Better Homes and Gardens. My inspiration for simple decorating with eggs…. I will be posting about it in the near future.

✽ A wonderful addition to our house is this simple watercolor painting of flowers by my daughter Hannah. {print, Here}

✽ A fun idea from fête to color code latte/coffee cups with fun tapes.

✽ Pretty display of macarons from Style Me Pretty, my inspiration to make these cookies soon!

✽ It’s time to start collecting variety of seed packets for the garden. {image, fête}

✽ Simple and rustic terra cotta pots from Olive Manna.

✽ French linen towels for the kitchen from French Larkspur.

✽ A new canvas tote bag from Fossil for spring and into the summer will be very handy to have.

✽ Fresh white tulips in the house are always a welcome sight. {image, Scrapbook}

printable “SPRING” {print, Here}

{all printables are for personal use only}

What are you looking forward to this Spring Season?

bird images/sources: black & white ⎜ swallow

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posted by: Kay

4 comments

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Tag Archives | 2014