Easter Table

I wanted to avoid a last minute thrown together table for Easter, so I started planning a couple of weeks ahead of time.  At a loss for what to do, I thought I could pick a couple of recent trends and go from there.  I chose Copper, Radiant Orchid (Pantone's color of the year) and Himmeli (a traditional Finnish Christmas decoration)... and I think it all worked pretty well together!



Where do I start?  How about the table runners?  I successfully made them with the use of a sewing machine!  Me!  A sewing machine! Successfully!  Sorry, it's just that I don't usually have much luck with a sewing machine.

I bought 2.5 yards of muslin (which is super cheap!), and made two runners that were 7.5 inches wide by 82 inches long, and another runner that was 14 inches wide and 41 inches long.  Those measurements are all after double hemming them.  Me.  Saying "double hemming!"  Ok, moving on...

After they were sewn, I painted them using this tutorial for inspiration. I wanted to achieve a watercolor painted look.  I mixed acrylic paint with fabric medium, and painted with various amounts of water with the brush and on the fabric.  After they dried I ironed the fabric to heat-set the paint, then washed and dried, and ironed again. The end result looks somewhere between watercolored and tie-dyed, and maybe a bit marbled?  (If it looks marbled, it was totally on purpose as that's another trend I've been seeing more of.)  Regardless, I like how they turned out.

For the place cards, I bought a dozen fake (plastic-ish) eggs for decorating that I found at Walmart.  They could be dyed just like real eggs!  How cool is that?!  But since I wanted them to match my runners, I just painted them with the same purple acrylic paint, and stamped everyone's initials in copper paint using clear acrylic stamps.  Super simple.

I also went to town with some Rust-Oleum Metallic Copper spray paint. I sprayed plastic dinner chargers, aluminum cans, and the himmeli decorations I made from this tutorial.  I missed the boat at Christmas with the himmeli decorations, so I thought "why not?  I'm going to make a little Easter tree anyways..."  Yeah, my family probably thinks I'm crazy.  But I appreciate them for letting me get my crazy on without making me feel too crazy about it!



Sticking to the purple theme, my sister and I picked out a couple of purple/pinkish bouquets at the grocery store, and I cut them up and arranged them in my sprayed copper tins.  I highly suggest not rushing while cutting flowers to avoid a snipped finger.  Just sayin'.  It could happen...  

I think I'm going to save the himmeli decorations to use next Christmas!

And there's my little Easter tree.  I spray painted a popcorn tin, put some floral foam in the bottom, stuck in some branches I gathered from outside, and with a hot glue gun I glued on feathers that I had painted the tips of with the purple and copper acrylic paints.

I then hung a couple of himmeli decorations on it, et voila!  An Easter tree was born.  I know, they typically have eggs hanging on them... but the heart wants what the heart wants.



Last minute I remembered the bunnies I had painted for my Neon Dip-Dyed Easter two years ago, and decided to paint over the neon colors with copper and purple.  It's all in the details folks.

Anyways, I thought the copper and purple looked nice together and I had a lot of fun making everything and putting it together.  And that's what's important right?  Actually, what's most important is family having a good time together, and I'd like to think that the work I put into the table helps make that time feel that much more special.