Easter Table Decor

The possibilities for these charming place cards are endless. Make them all like the carrot one with a variety of veggies for Peter Rabbit's garden, or make them all with one large but unique egg. If you start a little early on this project, you can grow your own real grass in the pots. You also might be able to find small pots of live grass at your garden center or plant store. If so, just skip the floral foam and the silk or plastic grass plants in the materials list.

Materials:

2" terra cotta pots
floral foam cones
hot glue gun w/glue sticks
grass-like plastic or silk plants
reindeer moss
plastic or wooden veggies, eggs, etc.
egg, chick or bunny floral picks
yarn chicks, stuffed bunnies, etc.
ribbon
about 5" floral wire per place card
small wire snips and pliers
paper and markers for names
double-sided tape
scissors

Cut floral foam from the cones and fill each little pot to about 3/4 inch from the top. Secure the bottoms with hot glue or craft glue if you wish. Note: You can use any shape or type of foam that you have, but the cones are already round and in graduated sizes, so they save a bit of trimming, which can be messy. Green foam also "hides" better under the grass and moss, but white works fine too. Cover the foam with reindeer moss or stick in sprigs of plastic grass.

To make the name flags, make a wire holder using about 5 inches of floral wire. Make a spiral on one end to slip the nametag into, or fold in half a long strip (1/2" x 5") of paper backed with double-sided tape. Trim the ends into a point to make the little flags. Write names with markers or glitter pens.

Hanging egg trees are popular but don't work well for real eggs because there's no way to attach a hanger. This Easter egg tree allows all your pretty colored eggs to be on display in something other than the usual basket of grass. All of the supplies can be found in a craft store like A. C. Moore or Michael's.

Materials:

6" terra cotta pot
package of 18", 18-gauge florist wire stems
colored eggs
small stuffed bunny and/or yarn chick
2" tall picket fence
carton of mix & pour plaster
small wire snips
hot glue gun w/glue sticks
rubber band or twist tie
tape
reindeer moss

1. Secure the stems of florist wire together with a rubber band or twist tie, and cover the drain hole in the terra cotta pot with tape or scrap paper.

2. Stretch two pieces of tape across the top of the pot about 1/4 inch apart and two more the same distance apart perpendicular to the first two in order to make a crisscrossed mesh of tape to support the wires while the plaster dries.

4. When the plaster is dried completely, separate the wire "branches" into various directions. Try to have about five bottom or lowest branches, four or five in the middle, and about three that are nearly vertical.

6. Test fit the little picket fence around the lip of the pot and trim off any extra. Apply a small amount of hot glue on a few pickets of the fence piece and secure it to the lip of the pot. Continue attaching the fence around the pot in this manner, applying glue to four or five pickets at a time and onto nearly every picket. Note: I glued the middle of the fence first and the secured the rest a few at a time. Gluing the middle first helps the first pieces that you glue support the rest.

7. Cover the plaster with reindeer moss. Use a little hot glue or craft glue to secure it. Make sure a little peeks out between the fence pickets here and there.

For an alternative topiary version, secure all of the "branches" upright with a small piece of wire wrapped around them several inches above the plaster.