Eggs-cellent decorations

My Big Martha is really talented at holiday decorations, so much so that when she is in the mood to decorate, I simply get out my storage totes of seasonal eye candy and let her do her thing.  Here's what she came up with for Easter at my house:

Isn't that mantle display gorgeous?  I love it!  Thanks, Mom!

I put the plastic eggs and bunny ears in the baskets from Easters past, so at least I contributed in some small way. The beautiful "Happy Easter" banner is from Wanessa Carolina Creations, and it is available for free download on her blog. 

My Big Martha also made a display for the media cabinet.  The carrot Easter basket is the perfect size for holding our DVDs from the library, making it both functional and decorative. Score!

Finally, here's the tablescape on the dining room buffet.  It's two Easter-themed tea sets, a bunny pitcher, candy dish and two sets of salt-and-pepper shakers.  They're bunnies, of course.

For the most part, my kids are really great at not touching any of the breakable decorations.  They understand the difference between a "pretty" and a play thing, and so far they are content to look and not touch.  Even with the jelly beans!  I wish I could say the same for myself about those.

Though I notice that the bunny salt-and-pepper shakers occasionally shift position ever so slightly.

I suspect Little Miss might have something to do with that.

Down on the farm

Little Miss' farm-themed second birthday party was a hoot. If the barn door invitations didn't let guests know what they were in for, then the kid-size barn and animatronic pony in our living room certainly did. Howdy!

My regular blog readers will be able to correctly identify this as a Handy Freddy creation.  The large part of the barn is actually a facade attached to the television puppet theater, while the door and chicken coop are mostly free-standing structures. It's all made out of cardboard, and the only costs were for the red spray paint and some red duck tape. Thanks, Freddy!

My Big Martha handled a lot of the country-farm-themed decorations, including everything on the mantle. Folks were impressed with her collection of antique tins...my only contribution was the Clabber Girl baking powder container, which is not an antique and came right out of my pantry.  That's proof that I made a really good decision in handing off a large part of the decorating to my mom.

My Big Martha took the kids' farm toys and made a super cute display on the dining room table.  See the farm table runner underneath the toys? Yep, that's all My Big Martha.  Thanks, Mom!

Other small farm scenes were scattered throughout the house, including this tractor that I put to work next to the punch bowl. It held the bottle opener and permanent markers so that guests could write their names on the plastic cups.  How's that for fancy, y'all?

With the barn, mantel decoration, tablescapes and more, I didn't put up a lot of streamers or other typical party decorations.  The decorations were assembled from things we already had: farm toys, my mom's country-style decorations, a ton of cardboard in the basement, etc.  By using what was available to me, and with the hard work of Handy Freddy and My Big Martha, the decorations were big on country farm style and extremely small in terms of cost.  Which is exactly how I like to party. Thanks, y'all!