We don’t have a dining room in our house, so large dinners are done on long folding tables. No big deal, once a tablecloth is put on it no one is the wiser. The drawback is that they are narrower than a regular table, so I have to consider that when designing a centerpiece.

Of course this Easter we will fit on our kitchen table and there is no need for the folding tables. But I did want to keep a narrower design in mind for this project.

At a recent “junk” show I picked up these wire baskets and I immediately knew I wanted to line them with sheet moss and put little pots of Johnny Jump-Ups (the little tiny pansies) inside. I thought they would look so cute. That hasn’t happened yet so instead I used them for this quick Easter design. The best thing is that you can use flowers from your garden and virtually any container.

The first thing I did is make egg shells into little vases. I did this by cracking eggs and then washing the shells. Yes, I saved the yolks and whites…I actually need them for a recipe. I also soaked them in a little bleach and water solution just to kill any bacteria. You’ll want the remove the inner membrane or it will give a yellowish hue to the inside of the egg. It’s not necessary but it looks better. I wanted a speckled look so I used a faux cement spray paint I had left over from another project. You can use any color paint you’d like…or dye them…or just keep them white. I only used one coat of paint but you may need to do several. You could also do the inside of the egg in a contrasting color.

While the egg shells are drying, I filled the baskets with moss. I had a bag of moss that was in different colors of green that I used. This gets messy and moss can fall out of the basket holes, however once it’s packed in, it stays pretty well. Once the shells were dry I nestled them into the moss. I then used a large syringe filled with water (and flower food) to fill the shells. On the first basket I put the water in after I put the flowers in the shells but it was much easier to fill without the flowers and it weighted the shell down a little (duh, Kim).

Once the shells are in place place small flowers in the shells. I used the wax flower first so that the thinner stemmed items could stand up easier. The wax flower acts as a little grid in the shell to help the flower stay upright.

That’s about it. I just kept placing flowers as I wanted and then I laid extra shells in the moss for that “just broken” look.

Because this uses small flowers and you don’t need very many, this is an easy project to use from the garden. I, however, bought mine at Trader Joe’s. I actually bought a yellow tea rose plant there…which is now in the garden…and many other flowers as I did another project as well. For this I used the yellow tea rose, yellow ranunculus, white wax flower and dried bunny tails.

Please note that water can leak from your shells or spill because they are shallow. I recommend that you don’t place it directly on wood. You’ll want something under it to absorb the water.

Let me know what you think of this project and if you’d like to see more like it.

Happy Easter!

Please follow me on social media:
Facebook: @marmaladeskyfloraldesign
Instagram: @marmalade_sky_floral_designs
Website: marmaladeskyfloraldesign.com
Email: marmaladeskyfloral@gmail.com

May your day be filled with love, happiness, and flowers!