Photo Credit: http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/crafts/pretty-easter-crafts-for-adults/#page=2
An Easy Easter Centerpiece
Want to add a touch of springtime and Easter whimsy to your family table this year? It’s easy to do with simple craft ideas designed to bring out the smiles at your house. Here are a couple of ways to add some yummy treats and fashionable colors to your Easter celebration, as featured on the Better Homes & Gardens website.
You can create your own sweet tree of edible and non-edible butterflies and flowers. All you need is a nicely shaped tree branch with numerous twigs, perhaps in its natural glory, or spray-painted in springtime green or white. You’ll also need blank card stock and some Easter cookie cutters.
- Pop your branch into a basket or pretty pastel bucket that has some florist foam in it to hold the branch up nicely and then spread some Easter grass around it.
- Next, pick out your favorite cookie cutters, trace those butterflies and flowers onto a good card stock and have fun coloring or painting them with glitz, sparkle, and your own unique designs. Of course you can always use rubber stamps or stencils for your designs if you’d prefer. If you like a simpler look, just use pastel colored card stock and leave the shapes design-free.
- Tie a few of your finished shapes to your branch with invisible jewelry cord or narrow thread or yarn.
- Save some room on your tree to add the real cookies in the same Easter shapes! Just bake your favorite sugar cookie recipe (or use the one below), using the same butterfly and flower cookie cutter shapes as above. (Don’t forget to add a small hole to the top of each cookie before baking for hanging.) Decorate the cookies, hang them on your tree and you’ll have an impressive and tasty Easter centerpiece.
Another Version
Simply place your beautiful branch in florist foam in a nice ceramic vase, and embellish with brightly wrapped candy or eggs. You can then attach some silk flower buds to the tree branch with a glue gun as well. Other suggestions for decorating the branch include hanging wrapped chocolate bunnies, pink and yellow peeps or little bundles of pastel jelly beans or candy-coated chocolates. Your guests will enjoy them all and you’re sure to create an Easter to remember. This delightful centerpiece can even serve as a gift for your host for Easter dinner or for bringing to the Easter party at school to help make everything prettier and more fun.
For more ideas for decorative trees and other Easter crafts, check some of these websites.
http://pinterest.com/cindyodom1/spring-and-easter-crafts-and-recipes/
http://pinterest.com/livinglocurto/easter-crafts-recipes/
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2012/04/napkins/
http://vintagepaperparade.blogspot.ca/2012/03/special-guest-matthew-mead.html
Any holiday is about sharing special moments with those you love and you’re sure to bring extra joy to your family and friends with great ideas like these. You can add even more the to the season by sharing wonderful Easter greetings from bluemountain.com with everyone on your list. Design and sentiment choices range from the most beautiful religious ecards to the most whimsical “you’re some-bunny special” styles!
Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 1/2 c butter, softened
5 c all-purpose flour
2 c sugar
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C).
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Nest, stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Roll out dough on floured surface until approx. 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. (You can dip cookie cutter in flour between cuttings to keep dough from sticking to cutter.)
Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool on wire racks.
(Makes approx 5 doz cookies)
