Notes from A Cottage Industry

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Easy Easter brunch menu.

My Mom will be joining us for Easter brunch, and I'm keeping things easy. After all, it's much more about who is around the table, than what is on our plates. I'll do my favorite assemble-the-night-before breakfast casserole (remember it here from a few New Year's back? I shared a download of the recipe.) and I thought I'd do mixed fresh fruit bowls to accompany it.

Ralph got me these champagne coupes a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I think they look fabulous as the individual fruit bowls, holding just the right amount of fruit. A dollop of whipped cream on top and a tiny sprinkling of toasted coconut will fancy them up.

Juice and coffee will round things out. No big mess in the kitchen, and we can all enjoy our visit. What will you be doing this Easter Sunday? Is it a big holiday for you, with family, or not so much? Whatever you will be doing, I hope you have a wonderful day!

A second idea on an Easter tablescape with a farm-to-table feel.

I hope two tablescape posts in a week (back to back, no less...) isn't gonna be overkill here, but I saw an idea and I was overcome with inspiration to try my version of it. (A fellow instagrammer used fresh baby carrots down the center of her table, and that's all it took...)

I had fun creating this look, and again, other than buying a bunch of baby carrots at the grocery store, everything came directly from my own home.

I started with a runner made of artificial moss that I have had for a gazillion years as my backdrop, and I gathered up several of my flower pots to set the garden mood, along with my always-on-hand Ikea fake mini boxwood shrubs.

A short stack of old books borrowed from my entertainment center shelf added some height for one of the pots, a few plastic eggs (The kind that are meant to sort of look real-ish) and those inspiring baby carrots came together in less than 5 minutes to create my vignette on the table. Here is a look from the back side of my vignette...

I opted for my wicker trays to use as placemats or chargers, my old thrifted Sur La Table grey cloth napkins tucked in water goblets, and I then whipped up some fun little tags with a charming, and oh-so-serious bunny wearing a carrot and green onion bow tie. A bit of Dollar Tree jute replaced the white string on the manilla tag, and attached the tags to the pair of baby carrots on either plate.

Easy peasy, and quick too.

Now, I just need to decide which of these two tablescapes I'll use on Easter (or will I come up with another one?) as well as deciding on my Easter brunch menu.