Pink and Green Easter Table Two Ways

Are you like me and just love setting the

table for a party?  It definitely is one of my

happy places.  

This table was set for my craft group.  We get

together once a month and craft together.

I feel so lucky to have been invited into

this group.  We were talking about it and it

all started a few years ago at Christmas time

when my friend Laura called and said that

some of them were doing a Christmas home

tour that night, and did I want to come. 

Of course I did!!

But was I also willing to let them come visit

my home.  Well, I had spent the whole day baking

for a church dinner and the counter was a mess,

and the ward dinner started in half an hour, but

hubby pulled through and helped me spiff up

the kitchen and I was able to do both the

ward dinner and the home tour.  That was the

start of our craft group.

Since Easter is this week and we were working

on an Easter craft, I decided to set an Easter table.

Normally I would do fresh flowers to bring

in spring, but I had just purchased these beautiful

silk peonies, so they became the centerpiece, sitting

on a grass runner.

These adorable pink and green dotted bunny plates

were purchased several years ago from Home Goods.

Since I was in junior high, pink and green have been

one of my favorite color combinations for spring.

I sat them on my favorite white wood chargers

from Pier 1.

We were having a fondue dinner so I had

two color coded fondue forks for each person

and a brass basket for scooping out things that

don't skewer that well.

The little white rabbits were a favor for

everyone.  I added the moss green wire

and some flowers.  

A little bunny tag was

used for place cards and two kinds of

flowers and a little hot glue and I

had pretty matching napkin rings.  

I only had four of each napkin and there

are eight of us, so I alternated them.

 These pretty pink goblets were purhased

from Pier 1 a couple of years ago.

The final touch for the table was using

my chiavari chairs and covering them with

curly willow chair covers in blush.  I used these

for our Christmas table and they add such a beautiful

touch.  They are from CV Linens and very

reasonable.

I had used the same plates and goblets

for a table in my dining room with a bunny fur

runner.

I used sterling silver flatware for this fancier

table, and the bunnies were nestled in the fur runner.

This glittering bunny was from Pier 1 last year

and was featured atop a gold embellished marble

cake pedestal.  The table featured three of these.

Our fondue dinner consisted of three courses.

The appetizer course was a Southwest Cheese

and an Italian Pizza Cheese.  The main course

was chicken, steak, shrimp and potstickers cooked

in oil.  The final course was chocolate and caramel

fondue with fruit, brownies and cookies for dipping.

It all finished with creating our Grandin Road

copycat Easter Eggs.  Brenda spent hours figuring

out how to create the harlequin pattern and trace

it on for us.

These were mine.  I painted my butterfly egg

pink and added glittered dots.

Brenda had prepped the eggs by painting them

white, then drawing on the pattern.  The eggs

were from Hobby Lobby.

Karen decided to leave her eggs the original color

from Hobby Lobby and she painted on Mod Podge

and glittered them with Martha Stewart Glitter

It was a fabulous evening filled with fun, food,

crafting and lots of fun conversation.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It

Metamorphosis Monday

Spring and Easter Joys

Chocolate Easter Eggs with Edible Gold Leaf - a Tutorial

I love to play with my food!!

I love to play with chocolate!!!

I love to create beautiful food!!!!

Ok, so you know me by now.  Food is one of 

my favorite artistic palettes, and so today

I am going to do a tutorial on how to add

edible gold leaf to your foods - chocolates, cakes,

fondants, etc.  

You have seen me adding gold leaf to

French Macarons lately, so I thought I

would show you how to add gold leaf to

any of your foods. 

 A little goes a long

way, so even though real, edible 23 K

gold leaf is rather expensive, you can 

add a lot of wow, for just a little bit of money.

I started with my freshly molded chocolate

eggs.  You could even do this on chocolates

that you bought - just to make them more

spectacular.

Edible 23 K gold leaf comes on pages like this. 

I ordered mine on Amazon.  Make sure you buy

EDIBLE gold leaf, not just the craft

gold leaf at the craft store!  I got a large pack,

but you can buy much smaller.  It comes in sheets

between protective tissue paper, like pictured above.

It is delicate,

so you don't want to touch it with your hands.

Place a little piping gel on a surface, and use

a soft brush to apply the gel where you want

the gold to adhere.  On some of the chocolate

eggs I brushed a small amount, and on a few

I covered the whole egg.  

I just used a tube of sparkle piping gel found

in the cake decorating section.

Wipe the brush clean on a paper towel or the

back of your hand.  There will be a little left on

the brush so that when you touch it to the gold

it will pick it up.  Carefully touch and lift the

gold.  

Use the tissue paper liners to help control

how much gold you pick up at a time, by 

closing the booklet a little to hold the leaf

down.

 Touch the gold to the area of the chocolate

that you have put piping gel on.  Lift

the brush.  Pat down if necessary.

You are going for a rustic look,

so don't worry about how perfect it is.

Add as much as you like, adding another

piece of leaf if you prefer to get the

desired effect.

For the egg that was fully covered, I laid the

sheet of gold on top of the egg painted with piping

gel, using the tissue paper liners to handle the page of gold.  

Use a dry brush to pat it down.  

I also used a little piping gel to attach some

candied violets.  

I decided to add a little interest to my

glitzy chocolate Easter Eggs by painting

some with piping gel and then sprinkling

them with Disco Dust (also online!)

With a little gold and purple,

these eggs are fit for royalty!

Any Easter Bunny would be proud

to deliver these Easter Eggs.  It reminds

me of my favorite Easter Bunny story,

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.

Don't these look like Easter Eggs

for someone special?  Maybe that

someone special is you!!  They were

so easy and fun to make.

Don't forget about my Cookbook Giveaway -

Eat Dessert First

with over 280 colored photos and recipes.

Click here to enter.  

There are multiple ways to enter,

and you don't have to live in the United States

to win!!

The give away ends

tonight - Wednesday, March 9th, at midnight!

Jeweled French Script and Sheet Music Easter Eggs

How yummy are these elegant Easter Eggs

decoupaged with French script, sheet music and 

glitter and accented with jewels.

My little nest is certainly going to be jeweled this year.

I couldn't decide which I liked better -

French Script or sheet music

so I decided to do some of each

and a couple varieties of the music sheets.

After I finished those, I knew I needed

to add in some glittering metallic eggs.

I promised the instructions but really

they are so easy, this is a grade school

level craft project with a little more

sophisticated supplies!

As I started this craft project I was taken back

to first grade where my dear teacher Mrs. Laughlin

loved crafts and taught me to love them too.  

She would do what in my first grader's eye

were HUGE paper mache projects - a Santa

Claus for Christmas and a turkey for Thanksgiving

and I am sure many others.  When you were finished

with your assignment you could go and work on the

large project.  As I picture it in my mind they were

near life size paper mache projects.  Thank you to

wonderful teachers whose inspiration lives on in us!!

Jeweled French Script and Sheet Music Easter Eggs

Instructions

Purchase extra large eggs at the Dollar Store

(Mine are in two sizes and are between 3.5 and 4.5 inches tall.)

1 8 x 11 sheet of printed paper per egg

(I purchased scrapbooking paper but you could print your own.)

Mod Podge

(I used the one with glitter in it.)

Jewels or buttons from the craft store

Assorted Ribbons from the craft store

Additional glitter 

Glue gun

Remove the label from the plastic eggs

and any candy from the inside.  Tear the paper

into strips about 3/8 inch wide and tear

off the ends so you get a uniform look on

all edges of the strips.

 Begin by painting the Mod Podge on about

half of the plastic egg.  I found it was easier to

paint it on with my fingers. Lay a strip around 

the egg on a glue section and

 starting in any direction you like.  Tear off the strip

when the ends meet.  Wet the paper on the outside

surface with additional Mod Podge and smooth

out any wrinkles.  You will especially have

gaps when going around the pointed ends, just

wet with the glue and press until it lays flat.

Continue to do so until the egg is covered.

I found it easiest to sit the egg on the bottom

end of a paper cup that I had cut out the bottom of.

That way I had a stand for the wet egg.

Let dry.  The Mod Podge will go from white to clear

as it dries.

You can see in the first picture the glitter in

the Mod Podge.  I had planned on glittering

them after they dried and I did on one or two but

liked the soft glitter effect of the Mod Podge with

glue in it so I didn't add any more.  If you desire

to add glitter, lightly brush on more Mod Podge

and sprinkle on glitter.  Do it over a paper plate

so you can pour the extra glitter back into the bottle.

For the metallic eggs, I sat them on the bottom

of a cup and painted them silver.  When they

had dried I brushed on the Mod Podge with a

sponge brush, only covering the top half and

sprinkled glitter on it.  After letting that become

dry to the touch, I painted the Mod Podge on the

bottom half and sprinkled glitter on it.  Again

let them dry completely.

Apply ribbon and jewels using a hot glue gun.

( I found jewels that had no backing instead of 

jeweled buttons in the craft section at Hobby Lobby.

I liked working with those rather than a button but

a button would work too.)

Stack them deep or place them individually,

they are little works of art and something easy

to do with family or friends.

I was inspired by a photo posted

by Lindsay of book print covered eggs

but she had no source for

the photo.  Whatever print you choose, these

are fun, easy and yet elegant.

I will be posting these with

Foodie Friday

What To Do Weekends

Metamorphosis Monday

Mosaic Monday

The Scoop

Home Sweet Home

Feathered Nest Friday

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

Molded Peanut Butter Cup Eggs

From top left to right

1.  Fill candy molds with melted chocolate discs or

tempered couverture chocolate.

2.  Completely coat inside of mold then turn upside

down to remove excess chocolate. Turn over and

scrape off excess chocolate with an offset spatula.

3.  After the chocolate has hardened in the fridge

fill with peanut butter filling.  Do not fill to the top -

leave 1/8 inch so additional chocolate can be added

to cover the filling.  Spoon or pipe additional chocolate

on being sure to seal it at the sides of the mold.  

Remove excess chocolate with your offset spatula.

4.  Return to the fridge to set the chocolate then turn

over onto the countertop.  Remove any excess chocolate

around the edges with a knife. Smooth the edges with your

fingers, using the heat of your hands. 

Be careful as the heat of your hands will

melt the chocolate so hold the candy just by the edges.

Peanut Butter Filling

(The ones I have made in the past have graham cracker crumbs

in them but my daughter found this recipe at Hey Jen Renee and we loved it

too.)

1 C. creamy peanut butter

1/4 C. soft butter

2 C. powdered sugar

1-2 T. milk

Mix everything together.  If it seems too dry add a little

additional milk.  It should be the consistency of play dough.

I made 36 small eggs (2 1/4 x 1 1/8) and 2 large

eggs (about 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 ) with this recipe of filling and

I probably used 2 lb. of chocolate discs.

We used to have a wonderful cake and candy store in town

named Shepherds Cake and Candy,

but they are gone now.  That is where I bought most of my

candy molds from.  You can buy molds online - just Google

plastic candy molds.

I love Guittard's Milk Chocolate Melt N Mold which you can

click on the above to purchase if you can't buy it locally.  

It isn't like the old molding discs where it tastes bad.  

I am picky about my

chocolate and usually use couverture chocolate but it is

finicky for beginners and I highly recommend Guittard's 

"chocolate" discs.  These tasted great.  The above link

also contains great candy molds.

I will be posting these with

Crazy Sweet Tuesday

Sweet Tooth Friday

Wednesday Wowzers