Spring/Easter Tablescape Entry

Michelle over at Maddycakes Muse is hosting an amazing Easter Tablescape Contest... and when I mean amazing, let me tell you... the prizes are huge, the judges- some of the biggest party/event design bloggers in the business! I know I am way out of my league on this one, but I figured it would be fun to try.

After getting married this past October, I moved across the country (life of a military wife) and left almost everything behind. So being here has given me the opportunity to start new, but currently not having job means being very frugal. Who says you can't throw a party on a budget, not me!

I apologize for the pictures, it was a cloudy-gloomy day and I went back and forth between natural lighting and closed blinds, etc. Please click on the photos to view them in higher resolution, they will open in a new page which you can simply close to return to this post. After the pictures I'll do a budget run-down...

Entry: Bright & Simple Easter Tablescape.
By: Taylor @ Skinnie Piggie

Hovering view of the whole (tiny, haha...) table.

Egg ribbon on back of each chair. Hanging plastic eggs with matching thread. Jumping baby chick table decoration. Candle amidst jellybeans-centerpiece.

Top view of tablescape. Yellow iridescent ribbon holding silverware together. Scrapbooking letters on plate displaying guests name. Lime green votive.

Whole view of jellybean centerpiece. Side view of entire tablescape. Close-up of green votive. Another view of the little chick.

Sample of place settings... scrapbook paper place-mats, the plastic egg would be filled with the party favor, maybe a candy or two and a cute Victoria's Secret or Bath & Body Works mini hand sanitizer.

Entire table, that darn snow is so reflecting!

...but I did enjoy the natural light for all the close-up shots, here is the table with the blinds closed.

So did you like it? I enjoy bright colors and fun little touches.

As promised, the budget run-down:

• Candy-dish for jelly-beans - free (wedding gift)
• Dishes & Silverware - free (wedding gift)
• Scrapbook sheets - free (had them for awhile now)
• Scrapbook Letters - free (had them for awhile now)
  
• 1 Spool, Easter Egg Ribbon - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 1 Pack, 18 Assorted Plastic Easter Eggs - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 2 Wind-up chicks - $2.00 (DollarTree)
• 2 Bags Assorted Jellybeans- $2.00 (DollarTree)
• 1 Pink Spring Candle - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 6 Pack, White Votive Candles - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 1 Pack Easter Egg Napkins - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 1 Sewing Kit - $1.00 (DollarTree)
• 1 Spool, Yellow Iridescent Ribbon - $.50 (Goodwill)
• 2 Lime Green Glass Votives - $2.00 (Goodwill)

Total Cost to me: $12.50!

Craisin Bread Pudding

[insert picture here- coming soon, I promise! Hubby and I just re-did the office and for the life of me I can't find my USB cable or Card Reader for my camera...]

Story...

Before the blizzards came we (like many others-traffic was horrendous-check out lines another story) stocked up on staples: bread, milk, eggs, peanut butter, ramen, etc. Well my husband went a little overboard in the loaves of bread department. I still had a loaf that was starting to get a bit old, so I began looking up bread pudding recipes. I had never eaten nor baked it before so this was a completely new experience. After researching 3 recipes and reading the reiews (too many eggs, not enough flavor...) I combined what I liked best about each one and ended up with this:

Craisin Bread Pudding

• 6 slices of bread (at least 1-day old, I used store brand wheat)
• 2 Tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/2 cup Craisins (we don't like raisins, you can substitute or omit completely)
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar (you can go to 1/2 cup if you're worried)
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350*
2. Break bread into small pieces and place in an 8x8 baking dish
3. Drizzle melted butter over the bread and then sprinkle on the Craisins
4. Beat remaining ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
5. Pour mixture over bread, lightly press bread down with a fork to make sure it is covered and soaking up the mixture
6. Bake for 45min, the stop should spring back when touched

Enjoy! It is great as a dessert or breakfast dish (for dessert you can add whipped cream, we didn't but many reviews said it added to the whole taste). We both loved it, and our friends said it was one of the most innovated and best tasting bread pudding they had. They even said that the Craisins added a better element than raisins in other bread pudding. =)

Walls of snow, 4 adults, 1 little (3yr old), & 2 piggies...

Alright, so it's been far too long since I've posted... let me give you the down low on the past two weeks:

When I posted on the 8th, we were snowed in... we had gone to our friends house for the Superbowl which happened to be a very bad idea driving-wise, somehow we managed to make it there and home safely. I don't know what snow plowers thought when they were "plowing" but it's like they didn't care! There were spots on the road covered with up to a foot of snow still, and then plowing to the curb? Who does that... every street, EVEN the highways & freeways (if you could even get on them) were one lane, ONE lane.

At any rate... our friends that went with us to the Superbowl party... well we stopped by their house so they could grab essentials (clothes/toiletries) and then brought them to our home for the week. Their power was out and cars completely snowed in the parking area. So began the adventure of four adults and two piggies snowed into one little townhouse. Luckily we had planned ahead and bought bread, eggs, milk, etc... Each night was game night, we often were up until 1-4am playing board games or video games, it didn't really matter when we slept, but when we did it was almost in hibernation mode... not kidding- 10-12hrs. We were lazy! But, what else were we going to do? You can only play in snow so much, and nothing else was open...

By day 4 we were restless, and my friend really wanted to see her son (she had missed 3 days of having him with her) so... the men dug out a 4x4 truck and off they went to pick up the missing link in this posts title... the little. While they did that, I carefully took my hubby's SUV down to the local $ store praying it was open... thank goodness it was, but man was that check-out line LOOOONG. Anyway, I grabbed a few snack food items to add to our weight gain (the news is affectionately calling it "Blizzard Belly") and then a bucket which I just filled with toys, crayons, and coloring books to keep a 3yr old entertained. (if you haven't guessed, I don't have any children... her son's toys were snowed in at her home... and his father would only send him with his favorite three).

We finally got our home back to ourselves on Valentine's Day... not that I didn't like having people over to pass the time, you just know how that goes. Your house, your rules, a place for things to be put away, etc. Back to Valentine's day, hubby and I went to church and heard a great sermon, then we enjoyed Panera Bread for lunch, exchanged gifts, and rested/cleaned that afternoon. For dinner we decided against going out to fight the snow traffic/people, but it was great! Together we made bacon wrapped beef filets, sweet & peppered corn on the cob, garlic mashed potatoes, and caeser salad. MmmmMmmm... not to mention he loved using his new charcoal grill =)

Here's my gift, which I've wanted for awhile... ...oh Swarovski *swoon* =)


This week we've been recovering, the plower's finally got snow off the majority of the roads, work places and schools have begun to open, and life is getting back to normal. Cross your fingers we don't get two blizzards in one week again!!

I'll be doing regular posts again next week.